Song of Four Voices
by Novelist's Fantasy
Summary: Fate must hate us. It's not fun becoming a prisoner of war, a slave, but it's even worse becoming a gladiator fighting for your life in the arena. But even if we are slaves, even if all of us are different statuses and lead different lives, Fate manipulated our worlds until they overlapped, and everything goes down the drain. This is our story. And it began in Rome.
1. Prologue

**Hello there! Since this is a co-written work, chocolatebackground and I, shadowell, have decided to our shared account: Novelist's Fantasy. That is why this story is basically the same as the first Song of Four Voices. Actually, it is the same. Enjoy!**

 **Song of Four Voices**

 **Prologue**

Rome.

The most powerful civilization to ever rule the earth, with an army so powerful, it conquered the world, like fire on a field of grass, creating the largest empire ever in history. For those who haven't yet been conquered by this legend of an empire, they tremble in fear in the name of Rome.

And that is why I hate Rome so much.

Slaves.

Spoils of war, servants for the rest of eternity. This is what made up more than half of Rome's population.

I hate Rome. Hate it with all my heart.

If it wasn't for its dreaded army, I would still be happy.

If it wasn't for their pride, my parents and siblings would still be alive.

If they weren't so mighty, there might still be hope for me.

If it wasn't for Rome, I'd be free.

But the Fates are cruel; I should've known. To be able to inflict such pain and despair upon me, I might as well just die.

Pain. Sorrow. Despair. Darkness.

Everything brought down upon my shoulders in one second, the one second Rome used to conquer my home.

Destroyed. Nothing was left. Nothing except ruins and ashes, scattering in the wind.

Rome destroyed my life, taken everything from me. Yet if it wasn't for Rome, we would've never met. It was Rome who brought us together.

Fates intertwined.

And in the ashes, you may hear a lullaby, a tune.

This is the story, the song, of four voices.

And one day, it shall be eleven.


	2. Romans

**I**

Reyna walked briskly down the long, carpeted hallway, her long, braided brown hair swishing behind her back, stopping in front of a pair of double oak doors with 'Meeting Room' carved into the heavy wood.

After quickly rapping on the door twice, she pushed it open.

Inside was a circular room, dimly lit, with stone walls and ceiling. In the middle of the room was a large, round table, with chairs around it.

Currently, there is a map spread out on the large table, and two boys gathered around the map, one sitting, the other standing.

The sitting boy had blonde hair and shocking blue eyes, and was twirling a knife in his hand when Reyna entered.

"Hello, Reyna," he greeted with a handsome smile. Reyna nodded at him. "My Prince."

The boy whom Reyna had called prince sighed. "How many times do I need to tell you, Secret General, to call me Jason?"

Reyna ignored him, and instead, turned to the boy who was standing. He stood straight, with his hands clasped together behind his back, his big bulky form casting a looming shadow on the map. However, despite his build, he has a round, chubby, baby face, making him seem less threatening than he's supposed to look.

"General Frank," Reyna said coldly, "what is your purpose of calling this secret meeting that we may very well be arrested and executed if discovered?"

General Frank looked sheepish. "Well, technically it wasn't me who called it, it was Prince Jason."

Reyna turned her cold, hard eyes to said Prince. "For you to call a meeting, you have another target in mind?"

Jason nodded and turned to the map. "Greece," he said simply, pointing to a point in the map.

"Greece?" Frank's eyes widened.

Jason nodded solemnly. "Yes. Though rumors say they cannot be conquered, we are Rome! We can conquer anything, anyone."

Reyna sighed and bowed. "As you wish, my Prince."

"Jason," the prince corrected.

"Well, then," Reyna turned around and started to exit the room, "I will go and inform the emperor."

Jason snorted. "There's no need for that, Reyna. Octavian's going to say yes anyways; we all know that. He'll do anything to add to his range of power."

Reyna could vaguely hear Frank muttering under his breath, "How did he even become the Emperor? Whoever got him to that place must be a…"

The double oak doors swung shut behind her.

With a heavy sigh, Reyna braced herself for the upcoming war. Time to conquer Greece.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

A pretty girl with silky brown hair and eyes that constantly changes colors sat by the window, a scroll on her lap. She was recently reading but was distracted by the scenery outside her bed chamber window. Her window overlooked a garden, filled with flowers, and rugged mountains in the distance, the image smudged by the mist and clouds.

Even after years of living here, the sight could still mesmerize her.

Suddenly, the sound of frantic knocking filled the room.

"Come in," she said, her voice soft and musical.

Immediately, a man stumbled in. Quickly straightening himself, he shouted, "Princess Piper, the Romans have attacked! You must flee as quickly as you could! They are nearing the palace this very moment!"

The princess's eyes widened. "The Romans?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. "What about our army?"

"Crushed, your highness!"

Piper swallowed and hurried past the messenger, down a few flights of stairs and arrived at a wooden door with, "Slave quarters" hanging on a sign which hung from a single nail.

Without hesitating, she barged right in, at the same time messing up her hair and ruining her dress.

Ignoring the shocked stares of the slaves, she hurried over to one of them and asked, "Can I have one of your dresses?"

The slave nodded mutely, still too surprised to speak and Piper changed into one of the dirty, torn, slave dresses that all the other slaves wore. She then threw her dress into the fire, and murmured a silent prayer to Hestia, the goddess of the hearth, to keep the hearth burning as so there will be no evidence of her princess gown.

And it was at that moment did the Romans slam right into the palace.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

The farming ground on Athens are pitifully limited, though the soil that are able to farm are considerably fertile.

One girl sat on the roof, reading, glancing every so often at the large farm spread out around her. Her family had the biggest and most successful farm in the whole of Athens, and their family had quickly gone rich, giving the girl a chance to be able to be educated.

And it turns out she was unusually talented, as if blessed by the goddess of wisdom and strategy, Athena herself.

This particular girl was able to teach herself to read, count, do mathematics, and numerous other things, just by looking at other people do it.

As a soft breeze passed through the fields of wheat, the girl tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear so it wouldn't get in her stormy grey eyes as she scanned through the scroll.

"Annabeth!" a voice called out to her from below.

"What, Bobby?" she shouted back.

"Have you seen Matthew? He disappeared!"

"Nope!"

At that moment, Matthew came running back from the fields, screaming.

"ROMANS!" he screamed. "THE ROMANS HAD COME!"

Annabeth climbed down from the roof with her scroll in one hand and flicked her younger brother on the forehead. "Don't be ridiculous," she scoffed. "How is it possible…"

That's when she saw the soldiers.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

A boy, covered with wood shavings and dust, sighed heavily. He shook some of the dust off his curly black hair and used a dusty hand to wipe a trail of sweat off his forehead.

The boy had elfish features and a skinny, almost scrawny look. It'd be almost impossible to guess that he, a puny little teenager, owns this mechanics store.

He sighed again. Unlucky today; not a lot of customers. Usually there's more because everyone says that his is the best. He can fix and make just about everything.

Suddenly, there is the sound of bells jingling, signaling that somebody had come into his store.

Customers!

The boy hurried out to greet the customer. "Hello! Welcome to Leo's Repair and Mechanics Shop, LRMS for short. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Wait, you're Leo?" the man in front of him scratched his beard.

"Yes!" Leo said eagerly.

"Well, I'm just passing by here, but everyone says you're the best. Calls you the son of Hephaustus," the customer chuckled.

Leo grinned brightly. "Oh, do they?"

Big-beard chuckled again. "Yup they do. Now, back to business, can you fix this watch?" he pulled out a big gold watch. "It was my Father's and I wouldn't bear to see it just break like that."

Leo took the watch carefully. It was heavy, obviously real gold.

"Don't worry, sir! I'll get this fixed in no time! Drop off tomorrow or maybe even this-" he was cut off when people started screaming and running as if there's a terrifying beast outside.

Both Big-beard and Leo frowned. "What the heck is happening?"

They went outside, looking around. Big-beard grabbed the arm of a fleeing woman.

"What's happenin'?" he asked gruffly.

"Romans!" the woman gasped before wriggling out of his grasp and sprinting away.

"What?"

Then, a single spear sailed through the air and pierced right through Big-beard's chest.

Leo spun around and narrowly dodged another spear, then another, and then he sprinted back into his shop.

Inside his shop, gasping in shock and horror, his brain seems to finally register the information.

The Romans have attacked.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

A boy with wind-swept black hair and sea-green eyes sat on a small fishing boat, fish weakly flopping around him.

"Hey, Percy, how many fish have you caught?" a man on another fishing boat called out to him.

Percy shrugged. "Enough to make my crappy little boat start to sink!"

"One fish could make your crappy little boat sink!" the man laughed.

Percy scowled and watched as the man, still laughing, began to pedal his way back to shore.

"Jerk," he muttered angrily, throwing his fishing net over the side of his small fishing boat.

Who needs those big fancy boats anyways? It's good enough as long as it can hold fish and doesn't leak. And anyways, this fishing boat is the last thing Percy's father gave before disappearing.

Lost at sea, his mother says. Not dead, lost.

His father had come from the sea, fallen in love, and had disappeared into the same seas.

After another few hours of fishing, the sun was about to set, so Percy began to pedal back to the shore, where his mother would be waiting.

But as he neared the shore, Percy couldn't see his mom waving to him as usual. Instead, he saw a trail of smoke, rising up to the sky.

The nearer he got to the shore, the faster he pedaled, his heart beginning to thump out of control.

And when he was basically right next to the shore, the scene shocked him.

The village houses were on fire, burning away to nothing. Corpses scattered the ground, staining the mud with patches of blood.

Abandoning his fish and boat, Percy clambered out and swam the rest of the way to shore. Darting around fleeing and panicking people, he quickly located his own little cottage, but it was on fire. And as he neared it, he could see the lasts of his home smoldering into ashes.

"Mom?" he called frantically. "Mom!"

He arrived at the ruins of his house. No, she's not in there, his mother is safe and sound, somewhere…

Percy started digging in the ash, covering himself with soot and dust. But he ignored the scratchy feeling of sand stuck on his body and kept digging, until he found something.

A single, gold bracelet, dusty from the fire. It was his mother's, given to her by his dad. She never took it off, never and if it's here.

No. Percy stared at the gold bracelet, numbly wiping some of the dust off of its shiny surface. No, this isn't possible. His mother just took it off… she only took off the bracelet she never took off.

Vaguely, Percy could hear the sound of marching. Numbly, he raised his head and saw a group of soldiers marching towards him.

The Romans had come.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

A boy with black hair and dark eyes sat on his bed, observing a scroll.

"How are you doing, Nico?" a girl with similar black hair and dark eyes asked from the kitchen, where she was making something.

Nico frowned. "I still don't get it, Bianca. What's this word?"

His older sister walked over and peered over his shoulder. "That's 'vanished', Nico! 'And Icarus vanished into the glittering blue seas below…' How can you not figure that out yourself?"

Nico shrugged and continued trying to read. After a while, he threw the scroll down in frustration. "Argh! I give up!"

Bianca held out two cookies. "Giving up is bad."

"I know, I know," Nico grumbled and took a cookie.

"Why do we even need this?" he complained. "We hardly even need to read!"

Bianca shrugged. "Being educated is always useful, Nico."

Her younger brother grumbled something under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," he grunted.

Bianca leaned back against the wall. "You know, Nico, I was thinking…"

And that was when they smelled fire.

The siblings live in a small cottage made of wood and straw, so the moment they smelled fire, their eyes widened.

"Oh, no…"

Suddenly, the whole cottage burst out in flames. Bianca screamed and grabbed Nico, hugging him closer. "Bianca," her brother shouted, "we have to run!"

But the two of them stood in the middle of the small room, coughing, eyes streaming from the smoke, hardly able to move.

"Nico…" Bianca looked up to check on her brother. "Nico! Danger!"

She pushed him away just as a particularly large piece of wood fell down. But instead of crushing the boy, it fell onto Bianca instead.

"Bianca!" Nico shouted, trying to pull her out. But she wouldn't budge, couldn't budge.

"Nico…" she choked out. "Have to… survive."

And the flames engulfed her.

Screaming, Nico tried to get back to her, as if you could simple push away fire. But after a while he stopped. Bianca had told him to survive, and so he will, for her sake.

Stumbling around in the smoke, Nico felt around the walls until he found an opening. The door!

Slamming the door open, Nico collapsed to the ground, just out of range of the fire. Just before falling unconscious, he saw a group of armored soldiers marching down the cobblestone road.

Romans.

 **Please Review!**


	3. Sold

**II**

After a few weeks, it was all over. The troops were divided to conquer various Greek towns and settlements, and all attacks ended with the Romans victorious. A strong force would be sent to the capital, and once the capital was down, Greece was down.

Reyna entered the Meeting Room again. This time, more people were at the table, toasting and fingering maps. Frank was sitting at a corner, a bandage on his arm, an undisguised smile on his babyish face. Jason was grinning widely, but he wasn't sitting at the head of the table...

"Emperor Octavian," Reyna bowed respectfully.

"Secret General Reyna," Octavian said sourly, as if her name was a bad-tasting bit of food someone forced down his throat.

Reyna lowered her head respectfully, but did not grovel. She did have a bit of dignity to consider. She made her way to her usual spot and sat down.

"So far, our campaigns have been successful. We have conquered a large part of Greece, and we have taken a lot of captives..."

Someone raised his hand. Reyna glanced over and saw a stringy boy with dark hair and an eye patch. "Centurion Nakamura?" Reyna said.

"Secret General," Nakamura said calmly, but Reyna could easily detect an undercurrent of nervousness under the seemingly easy facade. "Speaking of captives, we have far too many. The prisons and workhouses are overflowing, families refuse to buy anymore because they already have enough, and even more slaves are being taken in. What should we do with them?"

Oh. Reyna cursed herself silently. Taking over cities were good, but the massive amount of captives were also a problem.

"May I propose a suggestion?" Octavian asked. His tone was pleasant enough, but there was a nasty gleam in his milky blue eyes that made Reyna shudder.

"Of course you may, sir," Reyna said.

"How about... Gladiators?" Octavian said.

There was a moment of silence.

"Gladiators?" Nakamura said blankly.

"Yes, gladiators, you fool. The construction of the Colosseum is still undergoing. We can turn the slaves into gladiators and send them in there to fight to the death. That way, our overcrowding slave problem would be solved. We will also make the fights public. We Romans love this sort of entertainment, don't we? Are there any objections?" Octavian's eyes scanned the room, daring them to object.

Jason frowned vaguely. Frank fiddled with his bandage. Nakamura nodded.

"Those who are in favor, say 'Aye'" Octavian ordered.

"Aye," the assembly mumbled. Reyna's voice came in slightly later than the others.

"Those who are not in favor, say 'Nay'"

No one made a sound.

"That is settled, then," Octavian said smugly. "Let the gladiators come!"

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

The slaves screamed as a dozen heavily armed Romans burst into the quarters. One of them raised his sword, but did not strike.

Piper's heartbeat was a booming thud in her ears. She was trembling with fear and shock, but did not make a sound. She must act like a scared servant girl. She must not show them any signs of being Princess Piper.

"Nothing but women and children. Take them," a soldier said gruffly. The soldier with the raised sword nodded, grunted, and started shoving them out the door.

Piper allowed herself to be pushed outside. She blinked as the sun stung her eyes. A slave cart was parked in the middle of the road, a grungy looking donkey pawing the ground impatiently as a Roman soldier yanked viciously at its harness.

"Get in, get in!" a Roman yelled.

Wailing in fear, the servant girls piled onto the cart, weeping and shaking. Piper stumbled around until she found a seat.

"It'll be all right, it'll be all right," Piper mumbled to herself, half hoping it was true.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

They spent almost the entire day on the cart, stopping a few times to allow more girls on. The girls sat, huddled in silence. Once, a girl tried to start a conversation, but the Romans marching behind them yelled at her to shut up.

From then on, no one made a noise.

Piper spent hours alternating between drifting off into space and worrying. Sometimes, she dozed off, but always snapped awake when the cart made a squeaking turn, tilting the carriage 90 degrees before righting itself. It was horrible, knowing that every turn could mean the cart tipping over.

When the sun drifted over the horizon, they finally arrived at their destination.

A crowded market-like place, with bustling 'merchants', willing customers, and people trading 'goods'.

Except the 'merchants' were slave-traders and the 'goods' are people. Or in other words, slaves.

One by one, they were marched onto a big platform, and one by one they were lead away by different people.

There was one particular buyer who was buying a lot of slaves. Palace representative, Piper knew. People from the palace that buys slaves for the royalties.

Then, someone pulled her onto the platform. Almost immediately, people started shouting out prices, wanting her for her extraordinary beauty.

But then, the palace representative raised his hand and the crowd fell silent. No one dares speak up against the royalties.

As the palace representative passed the money to the slave-trader, somebody pushed her to join the already pretty large group of slaves.

The palace representative turned and counted the heads of the slaves he already bought. Then he nodded in satisfaction and ordered them to file into a carriage that Piper knows will bring them to the palace.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Piper gasped as she saw the grand palace, a marble structure of pillars and engraved walls. Statues of granite and gold posed at regular intervals, and the smells of freshly baked bread wafted from a window, making Piper's belly rumble. The palace here is even better than her palace back home!

 _'There's no more of home,'_ a small voice in Piper's voice reminded her.

 _'Gee, thanks,'_ she mentally grumbled. _'Just when my mood's getting a teeny tiny bit better…'_

"Move, move, move!" a Roman soldier yelled.

"Nice vocabulary," a girl beside Piper muttered, but quickly looked down as the soldier glared angrily at her.

Soon, the girls were ushered into a small storage room. A tall, thin lady walked around, prodding the girls and sorting them into two groups. Piper struggled not to flinch as the woman pinched her face and tried not to yelp as the woman jerked her to the group huddled at the right.

"All right!" the woman yelled.

Every girl stared fearfully at her.

"Those on the right, you're now officially the palace servants. I'll show you your quarters. You wake up at five, prepare breakfast at six, do you're duties around the palace, eat your lunch, and resume to your duties. Lights out at ten. Got it?"

Piper nodded. She was now a palace maid. Being a palace maid couldn't be that difficult... right?

"For those on the left..." the woman grinned wickedly. "Time to wave good-bye. The soldiers will take you to who-knows-where and you'll be doing who-knows-what. Now, go!"

The girls on the left were ushered out.

"Follow me," the woman instructed.

Someone threw Piper some lingerie and two ugly servant dresses as she entered the servant's quarters, which is basically a hearth and several rows of bunks.

"Settle down. Go to the kitchens for dinner at eight. Welcome to the palace, ladies!"

Piper set down her clothes and sat on her bunk. Whatever was ahead of her... she must be ready.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Leo managed to collapse into a chair. Outside, those who hadn't run fast enough were either killed or taken to become slaves. It was a miracle how they hadn't infiltrated his workshop yet.

After the shock...

Leo didn't feel fear. He didn't feel scared. He didn't feel like screaming.

He felt... indignant.

"HEY!" Leo stormed outside.

Impossibly, everyone stopped moving. Those who were fleeing stopped in their tracks. Those who were attacking froze, swords raised.

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW BUSINESS IS GOING ON RIGHT NOW? I ONLY GOT ONE CUSTOMER TODAY, AND YOU KILLED HIM! DO YOU KNOW HOW ANNOYING IT IS FOR YOUR ONLY CUSTOMER TO GET KILLED JUST AS..."

"Shut up," a Roman soldier grunted.

"SHUT UP? WHO'RE YOU TELLING TO SHUT UP?" Leo yelled.

He felt his face burn like his forges.

The temporary time-freeze was soon over. The fleeing ones fled, and the attacking ones attacked. A big Roman soldier ran to take down Leo, but Leo managed to duck into his machine shop.

Leo grabbed his tool belt and buckled it on, fumbling with the clips. He knew he should be running as fast as he could, but he couldn't bear to leave the tool belt. It was the only gift his mother had been able to give to him before she died in a fire.

Amazingly enough, that old gold watch was still in his fist. Leo quickly stuffed it into his tool belt.

Suddenly, the door crumbled and disintegrated as a horde of Romans poured in. A group fell back to grab his tools, and the other group stood before him, eyes gleaming with malice.

"Oh shoot," Leo squeaked.

"Boy, you're coming with us," a Roman ordered, and grabbed him.

"Wait!" Leo yelped. "Stop touching my tools! They're mine! Do you know how much they cost..."

The soldier threw Leo into a cart. A few more young boys were also thrown in. Roughly, the cart rumbled into motion. Just as Leo managed to get himself into a more comfortable position, they had reached another town.

"Found anyone good?" a Roman asked.

"None," another Roman grunted. "We only got this one. Looks decent enough. The rest of them are nothing but trash, so we killed them,"

Leo yelped as a limp body was thrown onto him. Leo managed to get the other boy into a sitting position. The other boy was pale with dark hair, and was covered in soot.

The cart soon rumbled and continued down the road.

"Bianca!" The boy suddenly screamed, waking up.

"Whoa!" Leo and the rest of the slaves yelled.

"Bianca!" the pale boy screamed again then sat up and looked around, his eyes wide and confused. "Where's Bianca?"

The boy's face suddenly went slack. A single tear trickled down his face. "Bianca's dead," he said plaintively, as if just realizing it.

"Yeah," Leo said softly.

The rest of them remained in somber silence until they reached a town. They were then yanked out of the cart and into a cell, where they waited for whatever fate prepared for them.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

"No! Don't!" Annabeth screeched as the Romans poured in.

"Annabeth! Bobby, Matthew, run!" Annabeth's father ran out of the farmhouse, desperation evident on his face.

Annabeth opened her mouth to reply, but then, the crowds hit. Fleeing men, women, and children trampled each other as they fled to escape the Romans behind them. Annabeth felt herself fall, but managed to stumble to her feet. When she glanced up again, her father and her brothers were nowhere to be seen.

"Bobby! Matthew! Dad!" Annabeth shrieked. She shoved people aside as she searched desperately for her family.

"Your father and brothers are probably dead, you foolish girl! Run, if you know what's good for you!" Someone bellowed into her ear before disappearing into the frenzied crowd.

Annabeth tripped and stumbled again. It was only then she realized that she had fallen back to the back of the crowd. The Romans were no more than a few meters behind her.

Annabeth tried to get to her feet, but failed. Someone grabbed her and soon, she found herself in a cart with a dozen other new prisoners.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

The Romans had come.

Percy stumbled to his feet. He reached for anything, but his hand ended up grasping a pen. He ended up grasping Riptide, a sword that could turn into a pen.

It was another one of his father's gifts before he was lost at sea.

"Move!" a massive Roman soldier grabbed Percy by the arm. Percy yelped furiously. He thrashed and kicked. Most of his blows would have given any person a decent bruise, but the Roman was wearing armor, and his fists bounced harmlessly off the metal plates.

"Weakling," the Roman snorted, and knocked him out.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

When Percy woke, he was in a cell. There was a small barred window in a corner, allowing a few rays of sunlight to penetrate. There were a few other people around him, legs tucked and arms around their knees, heads bowed and stained with soot and dirt. A few of them even had bandages on.

"Glad you're awake," A boy with curly black hair and an impish grin said.

"Hi," Percy mumbled. His head ached. He reached to inspect his wound.

"Don't touch that," another boy warned. "We bandaged it for you, but the bump's still very tender,"

Percy glanced at the boy. He had black hair and pale skin, almost sickly looking. When the boy looked up, his eyes were so dark it was almost black. His expression was incredibly sad-looking and his eyes hid even more grief.

"Right," Percy said quickly. Somehow, his fingers brushed the bump on his head anyway, and he flinched as a wave of pain smacked him.

"I'm Leo," the impish boy said, smiling quickly.

"Nico," the pale boy said.

"I'm Percy. Did the Romans get to you too?" Percy asked.

"Yeah," Leo said sadly.

Nico just nodded.

"Where are you from?" Percy asked, trying to start a conversation. "I'm from Mycenae."

"I'm from Corinth," Leo said. "I used to work in a machine shop. Then, the Romans came and trashed everything. They took me here, so I guess I'm a slave now,"

Nico remained silent.

"How about you, Nico?" Percy asked.

"Shut up," Nico replied sullenly.

Leaning forward, Leo quickly whispered into Percy's ear. "When we were in the Prison Cart, Nico was sobbing for someone called Bianca. She must have been killed by the Romans or something."

"Oh," was all Percy could say.

Suddenly, the cell door was thrown open.

"Time to meet your new owners now, slaves. Yes, don't look at me like that, imp. You're going to be sold, and you'd better accept it quick, or your head'll be on a spike," a Roman soldier ordered.

"You're selling us?" Percy said indignantly.

"Obviously. You're slaves. Got a problem with that?"

Percy didn't answer. He launched himself at the soldier and gave him a hefty punch on the face. The Roman stumbled back, hand to his bloody nose before getting back into position, his javelin out.

"Stand down, boy, or we'll have to kill you," the soldier ordered.

"Yeah, right." Percy snarled. "You're going to kill me like how you killed my family?"

In one fluid move, the soldier whipped his javelin towards Percy's head, but Percy dodged. The soldier grunted in surprise and aimed another jab, but Percy dodged it as well.

Nearby, a few more soldiers joined to see the fun. They jabbed some swords and spears, but Percy managed to dodge every one of them. He could have ended their lives with Riptide, but Percy kept his sword in its pen form. If he whipped it out, the incoming Romans would confiscate it and destroy it. Parting with his father's last gift would be horrific beyond imagination.

"Let's just finish him," a soldier suggested.

"Wait!" another soldier yelped. He glanced at Percy before nodding. "I have a better idea. Let's sell him to the arena. They would pay quite a bit for such a feisty fighter as he is,"

The other soldiers grunted in agreement.

A meaty hand grabbed Percy and shoved him aside. His head stung painfully.

"Who else wants to join the gladiators?" the soldier asked.

No one even breathed.

The soldiers laughed and started grabbing the toughest looking boys and throwing them beside Percy. Leo yelled and kicked as a soldier threw him roughly into a wall, but Nico managed to keep his feet. After the selection, there were at least a dozen new 'gladiators' waiting to be sold, including Leo and Nico.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Bianca is dead. She sacrificed herself so that Nico could live. Nico must live, or her sacrifice would be wasted.

Nico, Leo, and Percy were soon thrown into another prison cart. Nico was starting to feel slightly nauseous. Seriously, he had been on so many prison carts just looking at the rough plywood walls wanted to make him puke. How many prison carts are in Rome, anyway? A few thousand?

Nico inhaled deeply. Taking deep breaths always calmed him down... but this deep breath made him gag slightly as the stench of sweat and blood hit his nose.

"You OK?" Percy asked.

Nico nodded. His lungs ached from the smoke, but were feeling remarkably better. Mostly, he didn't feel like talking much. He just wanted to survive... Which was going to be difficult, since he was basically going to be thrown into the arena to fight gladiators that are a thousand times stronger than he is?

"I'm fine," Nico croaked.

"He actually talks!" Percy raised his eyebrows, impressed.

Nico gave a shaky smile, but continued to stare at his feet.

Soon, they arrived at the barracks. The barracks were basically the dungeons, only with bunks built into the walls.

"Welcome to your new home, gladiators!" a new Roman soldier came in. A shiny badge indicated that he was a centurion. Most startling was his eye patch. "You can make up a stage name for yourself, though you'll only need to use it after you get famous. The fights will begin next week, so I suggest that you'd better start toughening yourselves up, or your life would be short."

Eye Patch laughed loudly before sauntering out.

Oh, Nico hated him already.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Annabeth soon arrived at her new home... as a slave.

Someone grabbed Annabeth, inspected her, and sent her into the Slave's Quarters.

"All right, ladies. You are now one of the Senator's slaves. Your work begins tomorrow. Any word of rebellion will result in death. Enjoy!" a high, silly voice said, ending with an insane giggle.

Annabeth couldn't see the speaker, but Annabeth shuddered at her voice.

Then, a person entered the room. He was wearing a massive toga that failed to hide his massive belly and he reeked of wine and alcohol and smoke, and had cruel, piggy eyes.

Most frighteningly was the club in his hands.

"I am your new master. If you disobey me..." the master let his threat hang in the air before departing.

The second the coast was clear, Annabeth sat on her bed. She tried to force her tears down, but failed. Because it wasn't sadness or grief that had grabbed her.

It was despair.

 **Please Review!**


	4. Taken

**III**

Being a slave is hard.

That's the only way Annabeth could describe her life at the moment. Especially since she's got a master that has a history of beating his slaves to death.

Annabeth is working at the kitchen, sometimes at the stables, but she left the cleaning to the other slaves.

At the kitchen, there was a really nice girl. She has black hair and dark eyes, and she couldn't be over the age of 12.

It seems as if this girl is unusually talented in work, always managing to finish before everyone else, and when she finishes, she goes help the ones having trouble. Everyone liked her.

But then, the Master found out. He doesn't seem very happy about the idea of people helping each other, maybe because he's never helped a person in his life before, but he just didn't like it.

And so, he took the little girl and beat her to death, right in the kitchen, in front of everyone.

Just before she died, she was on the floor, her arms and legs broken from her beating, and she raised her head one last time and saw Annabeth. For a moment, their eyes made contact, and she smiled a little, before the Master landed a final blow on the back of her head and she died.

Just over the fact that she had helped a few people.

And that's when Annabeth lost it.

"HOW DARE YOU?!" she screamed at the Master, knowing full well that she could get killed for this.

"HOW DARE YOU?" Annabeth repeated. "SHE WAS JUST A LITTLE GIRL, SO YOUNG, SO-"

But then she was cut off by the Master when he slapped her.

Her cheek stinging, she turned her head back just in time to duck a blow from the Master, targeted at her head. In return, she punched him in the stomach.

His small piggy eyes bulged out. "You little-" he growled but Annabeth kicked his club out of his hand, surprising him and cutting him off.

"Guards!" he shouted, his piggy eyes wide and filled with hatred.

"She was only helping others," Annabeth whispered, breathing hard. "She was only being nice! I bet you never helped a single soul in your whole entire useless life, right, Fatty?"

People around Annabeth gasped with horror, which confused her. Really, 'Fatty' isn't that much of a bad word. Then, it dawned to her. She just insulted her master.

At that moment, the Masters personal bodyguards burst into the kitchen, knocking down the doors in the process.

"Take her," the Master growled, "and kill her."

The guards grabbed Annabeth's arms, ignoring her struggles. One of them took a knife out of his belt, lifted it and stabbed it towards her throat.

"Stop," the master suddenly instructed. The knife stopped centimeters from her throat. Maybe he just decided to be nice once and for all?

But Annabeth quickly discarded that thought when she saw his expression.

"I have a better idea," he said slowly, dangerously. "I could get a lot of money selling her to the arena. And a fighter like her, they might even pay extra!"

Annabeth swallowed, hard.

"Sell her to the arena, Pollux, she won't last long anyway; she's a girl." And so the guards dragged her out and threw her into a cart full of hay.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

After getting bumped around in the cart for about two hours, Annabeth arrived at the arena.

Surprisingly, the arena people bought her, after hearing the story of her trying to beat up her master. The people from the arena grabbed her and dragged her inside.

"You'll be a fighter then, not a kitchen girl," they laughed. "I'm not sure if we'll see you next week!"

Annabeth gritted her teeth. _I'll show them…_

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

That night, at dinner, Annabeth sat alone. Word had spread like fire around the arena and everyone now knows about her, the only girl fighter. Some were staring at her, others teasing and jeering at her, but all of them were ignored.

Then, somebody picked up her empty bowl.

"I'm sorry if those gladiators are being jerks to you," the person pouring stew into Annabeth's bowl said to her. She looked up at the speaker. It was a really pretty girl with long, cinnamon colored hair and kind, dark brown eyes.

"I'm Calypso," she introduced herself.

"Annabeth," said Annabeth after thanking Calypso for the stew.

"Hey, Calypso!" A girl with dark skin, curly brown hair and golden eyes called from across the room. "Do you have any extra stew? I ran out!"

"Yup," Calypso called back. "Come over and get it."

The other girl hurried over. "Hello," she said when she saw Annabeth. "I'm Hazel."

"I'm Annabeth."

"Nice to meet you, Annabeth," and then she hurried away with Calypso's pot of stew to fill the hunger of the gladiators at the other side of dining room.

Calypso stood across the newest gladiator awkwardly for a few more minutes before looking around and saying, "I got to go get seconds. Most of those gladiators are teenagers and they eat more than a lion."

And so she rushed back into the kitchen, coming back out later with another pot of stew, which she began passing out.

Now left alone, Annabeth began to listen to the conversations of the boys around her. One particularly loud conversation caught her attention. It came from the table next to hers, where three boys sat.

One of them, the one who's telling an apparently, rather funny story, had curly black hair and a gigantic grin. Though he looks slightly scrawny, he still has some muscles.

Sitting next to him was a dark haired boy with pale skin and dark eyes. His head was bowed and his figure hunched but he listened with obvious amusement at the other boy's story, occasionally dodging some of the other boy's violent hand gestures that threatens to smack him in the face.

Then, sitting across the talking boy was another dark haired boy, but he was obviously more handsome than his two friends. He is lean and muscular, with windswept black hair, a perfect tan, and sea-green eyes. From time to time he would laugh at the talking boy's story.

Annabeth didn't even realize she was staring at him.

Then, the boy turned and noticed Annabeth staring at him. Blushing, she looked away, but from the corner of her eye, she saw him smile and wave.

Looking up again, she waved back.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

A girl wearing a silver cloak was perched on a tree, watching the passing donkey carrying immense amounts of treasures with electric blue eyes. In her hands, were a silver bow and strapped to her back were a bunch of silver arrows.

Quick as lightning, she notched an arrow and let it fly, piercing her target with 100% accuracy. The driver of the donkey fell from the animal, dead, with a sliver arrow protruding from his chest. Two more arrows and the donkey fell down next to his owner, dying.

The girl darted forward onto the road and grabbed the bag of riches from the cart and darted back into the forest. After running for some time, she slowed down, knowing that she wasn't spotted or being followed. No one could catch her in this forest. She's been here for years and knows the forest like the back of her hand.

Arriving at a small clearing, she lowered the hood of her cloak. The girl has short, spiky black hair, messed up by the hood and is wearing a silver tiara, a prize that she had stolen from the royal palace itself. Actually, 'stolen' isn't the right word. It belongs to her.

Because that's who she is, Thalia, the former princess of Rome, older sister of Prince Jason.

She hadn't liked court life very much and so she had ran away. A few years later she heard that her parents were killed and Octavian had taken over the throne. Luckily, Jason is still alive and is still a prince.

First a princess, now a wanted murderer and bandit, known as 'Huntress'.

She had grown to like this life filled with freedom. Though it was also filled with guilt from killing all those merchants, she was still free.

Just like how she's always wanted to be.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Octavian slammed his hand onto the table. "This is unforgivable!" he shouted, his face beet-red with anger. "Once again, the Huntress, whoever that cursed woman is, has fooled us! Once again she had stolen from us."

The room today is crowded. Jason sat there, silent, twirling a knife. Reyna sat there, silent, staring intently at Octavian. Frank stood there, silent, fiddling with the bandage on his arm. Nakamura was there, silent, staring at the map on the table. Dakota and Gwen sat there, silent, staring at the floor or at their hands.

Anyways, the room was pretty silent.

"Well?" Octavian's voice sounded dangerous. "What are you going to do about this? The Huntress had been stealing from us for years! We lost so many riches to that one insolent little girl…"

"Just now you called her a woman," Frank muttered, "and now you're calling her a girl." Thankfully, Octavian didn't hear him (he was too busy shouting) though Jason rolled his eyes.

"Well?" Octavian demanded again.

Nakamura was the first to speak up. "We'll search for her, your majesty, until we find her. Then we'll bring her back to you and have her executed."

Octavian smiled, showing his teeth. "Good, very good. Well? What are you waiting for? Go find her!"

All of the people in the room stood up at the same time and left the room, leaving behind a smiling Octavian and a scowling Jason.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Once again, Thalia was perched on a tree, watching the road with the corner of her eye, dozing off now and then, and then jerking herself awake. Falling asleep during hunting is not a good idea.

But then, she dozed off.

When she woke again, she was shocked and surprised by the view that greeted her. A line of soldiers surrounded the forest, and others were tramping in and out of it.

 _'What are they doing?'_ she thought, horrified.

"Centurion!" a loud voice caught her attention. "Look what I've found!" A soldier emerged from the forest, running towards the guy with the eye-patch who is obviously the leader. The soldier was holding a big, heavy sack. With a jolt, she realized that the bag he was holding is the bag she kept to keep her treasures.

 _'No!'_ Thalia mentally screamed. Leaping from tree to tree, she found her clearing where her tiny cottage stood. And she found the house on fire. Luckily, all her weapons are strapped and hidden somewhere on her body.

Breathing heavily, and staring in horror at her burning house, she made her way down the tree and just stood there, watching years of her work burn to the ground.

She was so in shock that she didn't realize there were people surrounding her until it was too late.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Thalia was walked down the streets, the way all the caught criminals are. So she allowed herself to be pushed forward, towards the palace she had sworn never to return to, being stared and gawked at as she passed.

"Well, well, I am truly surprised," Octavian mused, looking down at Thalia from his throne. "If my memories haven't deceived me, you must be Princess Thalia!"

Thalia didn't say anything, just stared defiantly at the fake emperor. From the corner of her eye, she could see Jason, standing in the shadows, his eyes wide with horror. She quickly looked away.

"Shut her in the dungeons," Octavian instructed. "I'll see about her execution date."

As she was pushed past a very shocked Jason, she whispered, just loud enough for him to hear, "I'm sorry."

Then, she was shut into a dark room, to stay there, waiting the day of her death.

 **Please Review!**


	5. Awkward

**KHCMC36: Did I reply to your question? If I didn't, tell me, because I typed up a answer, sent it, but while it was sending, my Internet crashed, so I'm not sure if you got the answer...**

 **Anyways, continue!**

 **IV**

"Princess Thalia, once a royalty and now nothing but a petty criminal…"

Thalia forced herself not to shudder as she heard that slimy git Nakamura's sleek, sickening voice call out.

Nakamura laughed.

Thalia shuddered.

"Princess Thalia," Nakamura continued. The word 'Princess' was emphasized so much it was almost mocking and cruel.

"What?" Thalia snapped.

"Emperor Octavian has decided on your execution date," Nakamura said.

"That's great. Has his stringy little brain finally figured out how to count the days in the calendar?" Thalia asked tauntingly.

Nakamura snarled and gave her a hefty cuff to the head. Thalia gritted her teeth and refused to cry out in pain.

"Do not address the Emperor in such a way, do you hear me?" Nakamura snarled.

Thalia remained sullenly silent.

"As mentioned earlier," Nakamura's voice remained moderate again. "Your execution will occur in the Colosseum in public... and when will you be executed? Yes, you will be executed tomorrow."

With that and a maniacal laugh, Nakamura left her cell.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

That night, Thalia could not sleep. During her time as a bandit, she had a few close calls, but had always managed to remain calm under pressure. She had faced death in the face many times, but now, she felt... disturbed. Was it because that some sort of sense inside of her knew that her life was going to be gone in a swift whack of an axe?

Thalia shuddered and rolled over, then she sat up and glanced around her cell. Fighting her way out was an option, but the guards were careful. Her wrist was chained to the wall. The chain would have been handy for giving someone a good concussion if it weren't for the fact that the other end of the chain was embedded deep into the wall.

Thalia glanced around again. Apart from some moldy straw, there really was nothing good enough for her to fight her way out. Straw could be lethal, but only if you're really ticklish. And the guards outside wore armor, so they definitely weren't ticklish.

Sometime later in the night, Thalia slowly fell asleep.

Strangely enough, she dreamed of nothing at all.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

The next morning, someone threw a bucket of ice cold water over Thalia's head.

"What was that for?" Thalia spluttered. Her short, choppy hair plastered to her head in sticky locks. Her ragged clothes clung to her skin and caused bits of straw to stick to them.

"Get up. You're going to be executed," a Roman soldier ordered.

Thalia mumbled some curses under her breath as the Roman soldier dragged her out. Even though the arena/execution area was quite distance away, she could hear the chatter of the crowd.

Someone took her aboveground and soon, she found herself inside of a large, empty room. In front of her was a massive door.

Slowly, the door opened. An iron portcullis rose to reveal a massive arena. The ground was covered in pearly white sand. The stands were hundreds of feet tall... and packed with citizens. The Emperor's Box protruded from the stands, covered in purple and golden banners. That brat Octavian was sitting right there, munching on grapes with a smug expression on his face. Beside him sat a serious-looking girl with a long, dark braid, Nakamura, a few other Centurions, and... Jason.

For the sake of it, Thalia wished that the execution would be fast. She didn't want Jason to see her tortured or worse.

Octavian raised his hand. The crowd fell respectfully silent.

"Today, we will see a marvelous execution," Octavian announced.

Even though she was not in the arena yet, Thalia could still hear his voice.

"Will we see the execution of a pirate? A thief? A bandit? Perhaps even an assassin?"

The crowd roared.

"No! Today, we will see a far more exciting execution! We will be viewing the execution of a traitor!"

"Thalia!"

Thalia whipped her head around. The guard holding her also glanced at the newcomer.

A large, bulky boy with Asian features jogged up to them. When Thalia saw his face, she was unsure whether to laugh or gape. Startling in contrast to his bulky frame, the boy's face had this almost ridiculous babyish look to it.

"General Frank!" the Roman soldier said in surprise as he saluted.

"Yes, yes. I'll take care of her. Leave us now," Frank ordered.

"But... Centurion Nakamura told me to..." the Roman soldier said uncertainly.

"Well, Nakamura is only a centurion, is he not? I am a General, and the General's order always overcomes the words of a centurion. Go on, leave us!" Frank said impatiently.

"We will be seeing the execution of..." Octavian's voice rang, shrill, outside.

"What do you want?" Thalia hissed.

"Come on," Frank tugged her aside, away from the arena where they could not be overheard.

"What are you doing?" Thalia hissed.

"Look," Frank stared long and hard at her. "I'm good friends with your brother, Jason, and he would never want you to die a traitor. That's the reason why I- _we_ have decided on a plan to save you."

"So you're letting me go?" Thalia spluttered indecorously.

"Yes and no," Frank rubbed his temples. "It's much more complicated than that. I'm going to turn you into a gladiator. I'm going to tell the crowd that you are a double agent for the enemy. I turned you into a 'spy' so that you could gather information from the other side. Octavian doesn't know that. No one does, except for me, Jason and you. In order to prove it, I'm going to suggest a gladiator fight. If you win, the gods agree that you're not a traitor. If you lose, you'll be executed. So... try to win, all right?"

"That's a deal," Thalia grinned.

So she had to pretend to be a double agent. Then, she had to win a fight.

Then, she would be free.

"We will witness the execution of the traitor, Princess Thalia Grace!" Octavian shrieked.

The crowd silenced.

The gates opened, and Thalia walked in with Frank. The executioner raised his axe and nodded.

"People of Rome!" Frank called.

The crowd silenced even more.

"A long time ago, Prince Jason, Princess Thalia and I made a plan. Princess Thalia had agreed to be made a spy and we sent her into enemy land to gather information. Therefore, she is not a traitor, but a hero!"

The crowd murmured in confusion.

"What is this?" Octavian shrieked. "Thalia is a traitor!"

"She isn't, sir!" Jason said. "General Frank and I... we made the plan!"

The crowd was getting really confused now.

"I propose a deal," Frank suggested. "We will place Princess Thalia into the arena as a gladiator. If she wins and becomes the champion, that means the gods are in favor of her, and she will be free of all charges. If she loses... well, she loses her life. Is that fair?"

The crowd roared assent.

"It is settled, then!" Frank boomed. "Welcome, the newest gladiator, Thalia Grace!"

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Before Thalia's 'execution', Jason had noticed the slave girl once or twice. She wore the usual slave dress, stained by numerous washings, and always kept her head down. Wherever she is, she always stared at her feet as she walked, allowing her choppy brown hair to cover the sides of her face.

Jason didn't dare to ask anyone who that girl was. If he did ask, the slave girl might be put in danger. After all, it would make officials nervous if a highborn prince started chasing around a lowly servant girl.

Not that he was chasing after her or anything. Really.

After the 'execution', Jason wiped his forehead with the back of his hand once he reached his chambers. He sat down on his couch, braced his elbows against his knees and buried his face in his hands. Thalia was saved. She would live. She would fight, win, and come back and become his older sister again.

Jason reached over for a cup of water when someone knocked on the door.

Is it Octavian or one of his officials?

"Come on in," Jason called.

For a brief moment, there was silence. Jason was just wondering if the knocker had left when the door creaked open, and the slave girl came in, holding a bucket and a mop.

"Oh!" Jason said in surprise.

Mostly, it was because of how she looked. Jason could now understand why she kept her head low every day. Men would fall for her in two seconds if they saw her face.

The girl was beautiful. Even though her brown hair was choppy and ragged, it was thick and threw off eight-colored rainbows as a ray of sunlight brushed it. Her features were perfect, and her skin nicely toned. Most stunning was her eyes. It shifted from green to grey to blue, constantly changing colors. Jason could spend eternity staring at those eyes, but could never decide on the actual color.

"I'm sorry, your highness. I thought you were still in the meeting and it might be good if I cleaned your chambers for a bit..." the servant girl trailed off, gesturing towards the mop and bucket.

"Um... Yeah, no problem. You need to clean?" Jason stuttered.

The servant girl glanced at her feet again and twiddled her fingers nervously. "If you allow me to," the girl looked as if she was about to die of embarrassment.

"Yeah, sure, go ahead and... clean," Jason fumbled. Goodness sake, what was he saying?

"If you say so," the servant girl grabbed the bucket and slipped into his bathroom.

"Wait," Jason called.

"Yes, your Highness?" the girl said.

"What's your name?" Jason asked.

The girl hesitated for a bit. Then, she straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin slightly. "My name is Piper,"

"Piper," Jason repeated. "That's a nice name."

"T-thank you sir!" Piper said, surprise in her voice as she grabbed the mop and started cleaning.

Jason grinned stupidly.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Piper closed the door so that she would not disturb Prince Jason and glanced at herself in his mirror. Her face was flaming. Why, oh why, did she have to stumble in at the wrong time? Cleaning in front of the master was one of the most horrible things a slave could do.

Busying herself, Piper grabbed a rag from her pocket, moistened it with some water, and started scrubbing the sink and tub. As her hands worked, her mind wandered. For some reason, she found it impossible for her brain to stop thinking about Jason. For some reason, she found it both embarrassing and... content to think about how nice Jason looked, with his blond hair and electric blue eyes. It was a very nice combination.

Shaking her head, Piper mentally scolded herself for thinking such foolish thoughts. Jason was not going to fall head over heels for her. He is a prince! She is... well... a servant girl.

Sighing, Piper finished mopping the bathroom. She braced herself against the door. She hoped, hoped, and hoped that Jason would be away so that she can clean quickly...

Piper opened the door. Jason was still there.

"Sir," Piper said. "Shall I leave and come back another time to clean?"

"You can clean now, if you want to," Jason said, but in seconds, his face turned fiery red.

Piper set her bucket down and started mopping the floor, wiping the desk and dusting the bookshelves.

"Piper," Jason began.

"Yes, my Prince?" Piper asked, nervously.

"This is going to sound awkward, but..." Impossibly, Jason's face turned even redder. "Do you..."

"Do I have a boyfriend?" Piper couldn't help but to laugh a bit. "No, your Highness, of course I don't have a boyfriend."

"Oh," Jason said, standing up and walking over. "I'm sorry for asking, then,"

Piper laughed openly now. "Don't apologize! Who has ever heard of a prince apologizing to a lowly servant?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Jason also gave a nervous laugh.

Piper continued to clean. Then, suddenly, very stupidly, she tripped over her own feet, only to be caught by someone. And that someone happen to be the Prince.

Piper was horrified. What was she doing? She'll get killed!

But her legs refused to stand up on their own. She gazed into the Prince's electric blue eyes and the Prince gazed into hers.

Then slowly, Jason leaned forward, half-closing his eyes. Piper was blushing slightly but she couldn't turn away. Their lips brushed.

This was going to be breathtaking.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

 _Success, success, success._

The single word danced around in Frank's mind as he jogged up -almost skipping- to Prince Jason's chambers. They had taken over another large Greek city. Right now, all they had to do was to take down the capital, and Greece was theirs.

Frank stumbled as the bandage wrapped around his legs unraveled and tripped him. Frank managed not to fall. He quickly tucked the bandage back into place and continued hurrying. These days, he was practically covered in bandages.

Frank managed to catch himself at least three more times before he arrived at Jason's chambers. Eagerly, Frank knocked on the door. He didn't even wait for Jason to call him in.

"Jason! Great news! We have just conquered the last Greek city, and we only need to take down the capital and Greece is- **OOF**!"

Frank doubled over in shock, his eyes bugging out and managed to give himself the Heimlich maneuver with the pommel of his sword. He coughed and gagged a bit before stumbling up.

Jason was leaning towards a slave girl, and who was in his arms, their eyes bright with love. They might have just been kissing and having a great time... if Frank didn't interrupt.

"General Frank!" Prince Jason yelped.

The servant girl gasped and bent over, grabbing a mop and started mopping, head low, as if she had always been at work.

"Prince Jason..." Frank squeaked.

"Frank..." Jason trailed off.

Right now, the word 'success' was replaced by 'awkward'.

 _Awkward, awkward, awkward..._

Frank found himself unable to make coherent phrases as the word bounced around his head.

"I won't tell anyone," Frank squeaked, coughing nervously as he quickly stumbled away.

Once he was out of sight, Frank moaned and buried his head in his hands. Holy Mars.

 **Please Review!**


	6. Feelings

**V**

Hazel has been working here in the arena as a kitchen girl for almost 4 years, and this is the first time she's came across the tunnel.

As usual, she was mopping the tiled floors of the kitchen. Calypso is on break, and she should be somewhere in the arena, exchanging shy glances with a certain gladiator she had become rather… _fond_ of. Hazel, however, has no idea why Calypso have her eyes on that certain boy. He was skinny, almost scrawny, with elfish features and a strange sense of humor. But whatever; it's not like Hazel could do much about other people's love lives.

She continued mopping.

Okay, this area done. She picked up her bucket of water and went a bit further down the hallway, plopping the bucket with a loud _clink_. Wait a second…

Hazel lifted the bucket and dropped it down again, at exactly the same place. ' _Clonk_ ,' said the bucket. Or, to be more exact, _'clonk,'_ said the tile where the bucket was dropped onto.

Hazel furrowed her brows and dropped the bucket onto another tile next to the clonking tile. _Clink!_

Then the clonking tile. _Clonk!_

Back and forth she dropped the bucket. _Clink, clonk, clink, clonk…_

Hazel kneeled down and knocked on the clonking tile. The ground is hollow!

She rushed to the kitchen and grabbed a knife, hiding it in the folds of her dress. Looking around to make sure no one's around, she used the knife to prop up the tile. Just as she thought, there was a hole. Through the dim light, she could vaguely see the bottom of the hole. It's not a far drop. On four different sides were other holes, leading to somewhere.

Hazel's heart gave a lurch of excitement. A secret tunnel!

Quickly, she put the tile back into place and started mopping again. She'll investigate later.

After finishing mopping, she once again came back to the tile which she had made a small mark on. The mark was small, almost invisible unless you know what you're looking for. She lit a candle and opened the tunnel again, clambering down, and standing on a small ledge to close the tile above her. Then, she dropped about two feet down.

She couldn't stop her heart from thumping with excitement. Where will the tunnels bring her?

The tunnel, heading north had begun to narrow and twist. There had been many crosses and forked tunnels which Hazel picked randomly. Though there was a small voice in her mind warning her that she might get lost, Hazel seem to almost be able to map the whole thing out, as if she knew this place.

It was almost like the labyrinth from the old stories! Every opening leads to a different place. Hazel has never done anything so exciting in her whole entire life.

After walking for what felt like eternity, Hazel could see the tunnel becoming slightly brighter. Opening ahead!

Hazel broke out into a run. Where would this tunnel lead her?

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Annabeth watched as the green-eyed boy fought, twisting and slashing so swiftly he looked like he was dancing. Sitting not far, almost right next to her was his two friends, who were also watching him with wide eyes.

"Wow," the boy with curly brown hair breathed after the green-eyed lowered his sword, panting and was making his way to his friends. "That was _EPIC_!"

He chuckled. "It's not much, really."

"Not much?" the other boy asked in disbelief. "Next time, just stab me."

The green-eyed boy laughed.

And then he noticed Annabeth.

"Hey," he called out. "Want to come over? Sit with us."

Annabeth hesitated for a moment before moving herself over.

"I'm Percy," said the green-eyed boy, holding out a hand.

"Annabeth," the blonde introduced herself, but not taking his hand. "And pardon me if I don't take your hand. It's all sweaty."

Percy nodded.

The brown haired boy waved, grinning so wide Annabeth's cheek muscles hurt just by looking at him. "The name's Leo," he said.

The pale boy glanced up at her through dark bangs. "Nico," he said, his voice hardly audible.

Annabeth smiled at them. "Nice to meet you all."

Then, Leo asked, "Can you fight?"

She shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

The brown-haired boy grinned. "Duel with Percy!"

"No!" I was shocked.

Leo pouted. "Such a killjoy."

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

There was a gladiator fight today, but luckily, none of Annabeth's friends were called up. The four of them sat on the side, watching a gladiator get torn apart by two lions and just chatted. Well, she, Percy, and Leo chatted. Nico was as quiet as ever.

"You know," Leo was saying. "I can't believe how lucky we are. I mean, we're unlucky that we became gladiators but we're lucky because a month had passed and none of us had to fight to our deaths!"

"Yet," Nico added.

"Well," Leo grumbled. "Aren't you optimistic?"

"It's a talent," the pale boy replied, still staring at the fighting gladiators.

Percy and Annabeth listened as the two of them bickered, and laughed when one of them said something absolutely ridiculous. So far, Nico is winning at being super sarcastic while Leo is winning at making everyone laugh to tears.

Then, they started pushing each other around. Though both are skinny, Leo is older and taller and pushed Nico right into Percy and Annabeth, knocking the two of them over.

"Leo!" all three of them pretested while Leo grinned triumphantly. Nico, slightly pissed at the fact that he just got pushed down, pounced at the older boy and the two of them started rolling around the dusty floor, punching and thrashing, and in Leo's case, laughing.

Meanwhile, Percy and Annabeth straightened themselves up, slightly blushing. The two of them had fallen into an awkward position just then that they don't want to think about.

"S-sorry," Percy stuttered.

Annabeth looked up at his sea-green eyes. "What are you apologizing about? It wasn't your fault."

Percy didn't answer, just stared at her.

'What?' she wanted to ask, but she didn't. Because she was unable to. The sea-green eyes had frozen her in place, unable to draw away.

Percy put a hand on her cheek and leaned in.

His lips brushed hers, soft and careful, and Annabeth leaned in more, pressing harder into the kiss. Percy's hand brushed Annabeth's blonde hair out of its loose ponytail.

Annabeth's stomach is having loopy, flopping feelings as if there are a dozen fish inside her belly, flopping and jumping around.

"Wow," came a loud voice above them. The couple broke apart to see Leo looking down at them with raised eyebrows, though his grin was still intact. Nico was standing a few feet behind, looking slightly green.

"Are you guys seriously going to eat each other's faces while there are people outside being torn apart?" Leo asked, gesturing at the arena.

"And not to mention there are young children around," Nico added quietly, as if talking loudly will make him puke; which now that it's mentioned, he very well might.

Percy and Annabeth blushed deeply, though rewarded each other with a small smile.

Leo rolled his eyes. "Stare lovingly into each other's eyes later, lovebirds. Now let's watch people die."

Now it's Percy and Annabeth's turn to roll their eyes.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Another day in the arena, another dinner.

Annabeth and Calypso chatted pleasantly while Leo shot glances at the pretty kitchen girl. Nico rolled his eyes at the boy.

Percy had his arm around her waist as he listened to her and Calypso's conversation, occasionally voicing his own thoughts about their topic, which happened to be, 'Why is Hazel acting so mysterious lately?'

Percy had finished 5 bowls of porridge already. He stood up. "I'm going to the bathroom."

After he left, Annabeth and Calypso resumed chatting, this time a different topic, and Hazel came to joined them a moment later.

Then, somebody slid into the seat next to her. Expecting Percy, Annabeth turned her head sideways to kiss him on the cheek, only to find another person.

That person has sandy blonde hair and light blue eyes, with a scar on his face, very likely the result of a gladiator battle. He was actually really handsome if his eyes hadn't had a cruel gleam in it.

She froze, and before she could even blush in embarrassment, he leaned down and kissed her.

At that moment, Percy came back. Seeing the unknown stranger gladiator kissing Annabeth, his eyes widened considerably with surprise and rage.

Annabeth broke away from the man, gasping, got up and ran to Percy.

"Who are you?" Percy asked the person with barely suppressed anger.

The person smirked and held out a hand. "The name's Luke."

Percy narrowed his eyes. "Luke, is it? Well, let me tell you something, something you should know: Stay. Away. From. Her."

Luke's smirk widened. "Protective, aren't you? Well, why don't we let the girl choose?"

Annabeth glared at him and snuggled even closer to Percy.

Luke, knowing he's not going to be chosen, suddenly threw a punch at Percy's head. Percy ducked and Annabeth jumped away from the two boys. Percy kicked at Luke, successfully kicking him on the leg. Then, he raised Riptide, his favorite sword and slashed at the other boy, who dodged and pulled out his own weapon, a wicked looking sword that look like it's forged with two different metals.

The two of them slashed and parried, and, much to their displeasure, tying perfectly. The dining room was silent as the two boys fought.

"STOP!" Annabeth shouted suddenly, breaking the silence. Percy and Luke froze.

Percy lowered his sword. "What is it, Annabeth?"

Luke, seeing Percy unguarded, suddenly lunged, slicing at his head. Annabeth cried out and pulled out her dagger, putting herself in front of Percy and blocking the sword.

Luke looked shocked for a moment, which Annabeth took as an opportunity and kicked him in the stomach; then she punched Percy on the shoulder.

"You two are idiots," Annabeth growled, before spinning around and stalking out the silent dining room, leaving behind two dazed boys and two smiling kitchen girls.

Annabeth went outside for a breath of fresh air. Yes, those two really are idiots, and Annabeth wishes (in vain) that they will never have to fight like that.

But she has a really bad feeling. A really, _really_ bad feeling.


	7. Poison

**VI**

Nico watched.

Nico watched as Percy sparred with Leo. Nearby, Annabeth watched, eyes bright with eagerness and love.

Farther away, that ugly git Luke watched, arms crossed, eyes narrowed, his gaze flitting between Annabeth and Percy. Nico was half tempted to tell him to back off and perhaps give him a good, solid punch in the nose, but decided against it. A dozen heavily armed guards were patrolling the training area. There's no need to cause unnecessary trouble.

Nico yawned and took a swig of water from his cup. The previous days had been both fascinating and unbearable. Before lunch and before dinner, a guard would walk in and grab a gladiator. The others would be allowed to watch from a distance, as the unfortunate gladiator would have to fight to the death. The gladiators would either be paired with each others, other gladiators from other countries, or animals.

So far, none of their friends had been taken to fight yet, but Nico wasn't pushing his luck.

Nico sat down and gently used a washcloth to clean his sword. He had found it in an abandoned corner in the armory. No one really wanted it, since it was dull and had this unkept look, but once Nico cleaned it up, it was almost love at first sight. The sword was actually really pretty once the dust and grit was cleaned off, pure black and razor sharp. If only Nico knew how to use it...

"You!"

Nico glanced up. A large Roman guard sweating under his armor barreled in, helmet askew.

"Come on, seriously! It's lunch break! Why can't you wait till lunch is over?" Leo complained.

"Shut up!" the Roman barked. He looked around the dining room before pointing a meaty finger... at Percy.

"NO!" Annabeth yelped.

"Shut up, girl!" the Roman snarled. He stormed up and grabbed Percy. Percy didn't look afraid. He looked more... stunned than anything else.

"All right," the Roman glanced around. He eyed every single one of them critically before settling on Luke. "You blondie over there. You and Captain Green eyes are going to be fighting now. The emperor's got a couple of guests over, and he's going to show 'em how brave we Romans are. Put up a good fight, got it?"

"Yes, sir," Luke said, giving a mocking bow.

Apparently, Romans weren't too good with detecting sarcasm, because the guard smirked proudly, patted himself on the back, and took Luke and Percy away.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Percy did not know what to feel when he was taken to a dressing room to be prepped for battle. He felt fearful for Annabeth, hatred for Luke and... exhilaration. Deep inside, he wanted to prove that he wasn't just a show off who showed off during training and squealed in the arena. He wanted to prove that he was a... hero.

"Percy."

Calypso appeared, arms straining under the weight of his armor. She set the armor down and started strapping greaves onto Percy's legs.

"Yeah?" Percy said.

Calypso hesitated. "Annabeth is very worried about you," he said reluctantly.

"Yeah," Percy said softly. He saw Annabeth in his mind, frantic and fearful of what would happen to him. "Tell her I won't lose, all right?"

"What makes you think that?" Calypso glared at Percy so furiously, Percy almost felt as if his face was melting off. "Luke has been here for years! He has fought years of battle, and his skills surpasses yours by a long shot. What makes you think you can win? How can I tell Annabeth an empty promise?"

"I..." Percy stuttered. He cleared his throat and met Calypso's furious gaze as calmly as he could. "Luke may be stronger, but I promise that I'll come back anyway, all right?"

Calypso glanced down at her hands and nodded briefly before dressing him in silence.

Once Calypso was done dressing him, Percy couldn't help but to feel slightly cool. The armor was basically a quick shift of chain mail with a scale-like pattern on it, a gleaming breastplate, an elbow guard, a finely shaped helmet and his sword. Even though the armor weighed at least a hundred tons and was even hotter than a furnace, Percy couldn't help but to grin in delight.

Percy's grin dropped when he saw Calypso's conflicted expression.

"You are a good person, Percy." Calypso said at last, nodding. "You might just be able to keep your promise,"

With that, Calypso turned around and walked into the darkness.

Percy then clanked out the dressing room and was herded by two soldiers over a big gate.

"Right now, we have the Green-eyed Gladiator against one of our best champions: Luke Castellan!" an announcer yelled.

The wide doors opened, the portcullis lifted, and Percy found himself dazzled by the sunlight as he stepped into the arena, the soft white sand crunching under his feet as his gaze settled onto Luke's smirking, scarred face.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

The first exchange was brutal. The second the announcer released them, both of them barreled towards each other. Percy's feet pounded onto the sand, kicking it up behind him as he crashed right into Luke. Luke grunted and stumbled back, but managed to keep his balance.

Percy automatically shifted into a fighting stance. The sand was both a blessing and a curse. The sand made it easy to get a good grip on the floor, but the heat! Under the sun, the sand was boiling hot. Within moments, Percy's feet was covered in painful blisters, his sandals no use at all.

Percy leapt back a few paces and glanced at Luke. Years of arena fighting has definitely made Luke far more formidable. Luke was lean and wiry, quick, agile, and strong. He seemed to make barely an effort as he swung his sword a few times, and his feet had toughened. The boiling sand seemed to barely affect him at all.

Percy shifted aside as Luke sprang, his sword a deadly arc in the air. Percy ducked easily, but bit his tongue as he tried to stifle his cry in pain as a few of his blisters twisted painfully.

"Does it hurt? It's going to hurt a lot more, you know," Luke snickered.

At the stands, Percy saw a fat citizen lifting a pouch of money from his toga. "I bet the blond one will win this," he citizen said to his friends.

That simple sentence was enough to make Percy fly into a rage.

Ignoring his pain, Percy swung at Luke. Luke parried, but to Percy's satisfaction, he saw that Luke had barely managed to cling onto his sword after the parry. Percy swiped again, but Luke deflected that shot easily.

"Wanna go crying back to mommy now?" Luke sneered.

Percy remained silent as they fought.

On and on. The sun made its way higher into the sky. From time to time, the gladiators would spring back, gasping for breath, but never able to inflict more than petty bruises and scrapes.

The two of them broke apart again. Percy had a shallow cut on his upper arm and a nasty bruise on his leg, but apart from that, he was fine. Luke only had one graze on his left leg, but the cut was deep and seemed to be bleeding quite a bit.

Good.

"BLOOD! BLOOD! BLOOD!" the crowd roared in a frenzy.

From the corner of his eye, Percy saw the emperor releasing a massive belch as he pawed a bowl for more snacks. Then, he suddenly sat up and frowned, glancing into the bowl. He glared at a servant beside him and barked a few rebukes. The servant scurried away.

"All right! It has been quite some time. I'm sure we'd all like a break, wouldn't we?" the announcer hollered.

"More like our dear emperor needs a refill on his snacks," Percy snickered quietly to himself.

The crowd grumbled, but filed out as they mobbed the vendors for figs and pastries. Luke was led away into the prep room, and Percy was led away too. As he sat down, he quickly tied a rag around his cuts and took a swig of water. If he could inflict a few more wounds and weaken Luke enough, he would be able to keep his promise.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Immediately, Percy knew something was wrong.

He and Luke walked into the arena after the break and began to fight. For the first few rounds, everything was perfect. Percy managed to give Luke a nasty blow on the head which made Luke stumble around in circles before regaining his feet.

After that blow, everything fell apart.

The first sign was small. A dull headache pounded through Percy's head. At first he thought it was the sun, but the headache intensified. Red spots danced in his eyes as he parried a blow clumsily.

By then, everything went downhill, fast. The red spots swarmed Percy's vision, and within moments, Percy was making wild slashes, groping around blindly. His scratches burned like fire, more painful than ever.

Suddenly, Percy gave a strangled yelp of horror as he saw his mother wreathed in flames.

"Percy! Help!" Mom shrieked as the flames intensified.

"Mom!" Percy gave a strangled yell, springing forward. Dimly, he could hear the confusion of the crowd as they wondered what was going on. Percy sprang. His hands barely brushed his mother before the image disappeared, leaving him woozy and disoriented. Somewhere around him, Luke was laughing uproariously.

Percy moaned and crumpled onto the ground.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Annabeth had no freaking idea what in the world was going on.

At first, the fight was wonderful. Percy was winning, and Annabeth's worry about Percy dying disappeared... until Percy started stumbling around. He groped for what seemed like imaginary things, while Luke laughed hysterically.

Rage, white hot rage, filled every molecule of Annabeth's body. Immediately, a picture of a belladonna filled Annabeth's mind. She had read about it in books. Belladonna was a poisonous and toxic plant that caused hallucinations before killing the victim.

And Percy must have somehow gotten some belladonna into his system.

And Annabeth was willing to bet a thousand bucks that Luke was behind the poisoning.

Percy had been in a daze for quite some time already. The toxins would be finishing him off soon. He had to get the antidote... but there was no way he could dispatch Luke and get out of the arena in his state.

Suddenly, Annabeth found her fingers wrapped around her knife. The rest of the gladiators were glancing, horrorstruck, at Percy's raving figure.

Anger filled her as she glanced down at her sword, wishing it could scurry over to Percy and help him fight.

Without a moment of hesitation, Annabeth hurled the knife.

Luke, still laughing, turned to finish Percy off...

And the knife buried itself with a sickening thud into Luke's chest. The audience was shocked into surprised silence, then began roaring in confusion and excitement.

Luke's eyes widened. He clawed futilely at the blade, but fell down, dead.

Annabeth covered her mouth with her hands and stifled a strangled sob.

She didn't intend to kill Luke. All she wanted to do was to wound him. Maybe cut a leg so that Percy could disarm him and get out of the arena...

Annabeth didn't want to kill Luke. Luke may be a jerk, but he didn't deserve to die!

"Well, well, well!" Octavian announced. The flurry of confusion from the stands silenced. "What have we gotten here? A gladiator... dead from a mysterious knife throw?"

"It appears so, sire!" the announcer agreed.

"It is the work of the gods!"

Annabeth looked up in surprise. An athletic blond boy stood up. He wore the robes of a prince.

"It is the work of the gods! This gladiator deserves to live! After all, he has evidently been poisoned, perhaps by the gladiator he was fighting just now? Such unfair methods should not be tolerated! This gladiator is the winner!"

The crowd roared in approval.

Percy was looking horrible now. His face was in a sickening shade of purple, and the blood from his wounds were pouring out sluggishly.

A medic sprinted from the stands and shoved the contents of a vial down Percy's throat. Immediately, Percy began to cough and gag, spitting out water. After that, he began to look much better.

The rest of the gladiators were ushered back into their rooms and quarters. Annabeth sat on her bunk, feeling slightly relieved. Percy was alive.


	8. Scarred

**VII**

The arena was boring. Humiliating. Annoying. And worst of all, Thalia was getting shipped off to _another_ one. Can't those idiots just leave her where she is? It's not like the first arena was _that_ bad. Okay, maybe it was. But then you kill a few people and then it's not too unbearable.

And then those stupid, idiotic, damned-to-hell soldiers decided Thalia was causing too much trouble, her being hot and all, and decided to ship her off to another one. But then, what's the difference? Seriously, those soldiers may be good at fighting, but they sure have no brains.

So now the Huntress is sitting on a slave cart, being bumped along the road towards another stupid slaughter house.

"Get off," the soldier driving the cart barked at her when they arrived at their destination. Thalia hopped off and stretched her stiff muscles.

The new arena was bigger, and obviously more comfy; which is unfair. Thalia should've been put here at first! She's a formal princess!

As she walked around her new home, she was mesmerized by the sight of a black haired boy's fighting skills. He twisted and turned, cutting down straw dummy after straw dummy. Sitting in the shadows were other people watching him—his friends, Thalia guessed. But then, there was one specific person who caught her eye.

It was a girl. Another girl in the arena, just like Thalia. This girl has curly blonde hair and stormy gray eyes, but her eyes softened as she watched the black haired boy fight. She's obviously in love with him.

Then, as if feeling her stare, the girl turned and saw Thalia looking at her. When she saw Thalia, her eyes widened considerably. She patted her friends, a boy with curly brown hair and a ridiculous grin and a boy with black hair and pale skin, and pointed towards the former princess. In unison, their mouths dropped open.

"Percy!" the blonde girl shouted to the fighting boy. "Come here!"

When he jogged back to where she is, she pointed at Thalia again, saying something Thalia couldn't hear. When Percy saw her, his mouth dropped open like his friends'.

Thalia's eye twitched. "I'm not something in the gallery for you all to gawk at!" she shouted to the group of staring people. Immediately, their mouths snapped shut.

They hurried up to her.

"I'm so sorry," the blonde girl apologized. "It's just that we're surprised to see another girl here."

"I was too," Thalia admitted.

Blondie smiled. "I'm Annabeth, by the way." She pointed at the black haired boy. "That's Percy." Then, she grabbed the ears of the boy with curly brown hair and the pale boy. "These are Leo and Nico," she introduced, ignoring the two boys' protests and yelps of pain.

The boy with curly brown hair, Leo, looked up at Thalia and grinned even wider, if that was possible. "Hey, hottie."

Thalia promptly punched him in the face.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Annabeth, Leo, Nico, Percy, and Thalia sat just outside the fighting circle, watching a gladiator fight.

"Today," the announcer screamed into the microphone. "We will witness a very interesting fight…"

"So you mean the usual?" somebody called from the crowd of audience. Everybody laughed.

The announcer continued, ignoring the person. "Today, we shall see the battle of Romans against the Greeks!"

Thalia heard the other four around her draw in a sharp breath.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Greece…" Percy croaked. Thalia understood immediately. The four of them, Annabeth, Leo, Nico, and Percy are from Greece, which the Romans had conquered.

Thalia felt sick.

They all watched in numb shock as four gigantic 'Roman' soldiers stepped out. They looked like giants, with bulky muscles and a towering height. They roared with the crowd and pounded their weapons on their shields, causing the crowd to cheer even louder.

Six scrawny, short, and terrified 'Greek' gladiators were pushed into the fighting circle. They were trembling out of their skins, eyes darting from side to side as if looking for an escape route, which there are none.

Thalia doesn't blame them. If you know your fate isn't going to be a nice one, you wouldn't be grinning with confidence either.

A gong sounded somewhere. Immediately, the four giants charged towards the pathetic little gladiators, who squeaked in terror and scattered around the arena.

For a while, nothing happened. The four 'Romans' chased the 'Greeks' around the arena, screaming for blood, just like the audience. Then, they managed to corner the 'Greeks' and started killing them in the worst and most gruesome way possible. One 'Roman' even managed to cut the 'Greek' into a bunch of tiny pieces.

Thalia has no idea how the crowd is still cheering on to that. She felt like she's going to throw up.

Next to her, Annabeth, Leo, Nico, and Percy turned paler and paler as they watched, their bodies frozen in horror and revolt. Suddenly, Leo shot up, paler than a vampire, and muttered, "I'm going to be sick," before rushing away. The other three followed him, leaving Thalia alone, sitting there, her eyes wide with horror.

 _'The Greeks must have tried really hard,'_ she thought numbly as she watched a 'Roman' chop a 'Greek's' head in half. _'The Greeks are powerful, they actually managed to hold back the Romans for some time...'_

But watching the gladiators fight, Thalia could barely bring herself to believe that.

At one point, one of the 'Greeks' saw her. He was young, 14 at most, and has brown hair and eyes, which was wide with terror. When they made eye contact, his eyes begged her to help him, save him, and then a 'Roman' hacked off his head.

The 'Greeks' were all killed.

The 'Romans' roared with the crowd in victory.

Thalia became angrier and angrier as she watched them celebrate their easy victory. How gruesome, how revolting?! When her father was ruling, even though he was strict and Thalia wasn't exactly on good terms with him, they didn't have… things like this.

So angry she was seeing red, Thalia almost unconsciously raised her bow, notched an arrow, and let it fly. The arrow reached its target perfectly and the arena silenced in shock as they saw the arrow protruding from one of the 'Romans' neck. The giant's eyes bulged out in surprise before crumbling to the ground.

Thalia notched and let go another arrow and another gladiator fell down, dead.

Before she was able to bring down another gladiator, however, a couple of guards grabbed her, tying her hands behind her.

"HOW DARE YOU?" she screamed at them. "HOW DARE YOU ARRANGE SUCH GRUESOME, DISGUSTING, HORRIFIC, INSULTING THING?"

They knocked her out before she could continue cursing at them.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Thalia woke up in a small, concrete cell, with one tiny barred window. The door was made of heavy wood with a big lock, so no chance of escape. And anyways, her right hand was chained to the wall.

Immediately, a series of images from her memory shot through her mind: the 'Romans' and "Greeks', the little boy pleading her to save him…

Thalia closed her eyes and laid her head against the rough, concrete wall.

 _How_ _horrible_ _…_

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

A hooded figure was perched on a thick branch on a tree in the royal palace.

"So this is where all the decisions were made…" he mused.

Today is a big day. Today, the first step of his plan shall begin. Today… oh no, wait, it's _tonight_.

Anyways, _tonight_ , is the night when his revenge begins.

An easy target… the hooded figure's blue eyes scanned through each of the palace windows.

Aha, that boy over there, with the eye patch…

The hooded figure smiled creepily, looking slightly like a madman.

Nimble as a cat, he leaped from branch to branch, following the person with the eye patch with barely a rustle. Then, he jumped down from the tree, and attacked.

The last thing Centurion Ethan Nakamura saw was a silver scar.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Jason and Piper were having some… private time in Jason's room. If Frank had thought that he walking in on them once while they were kissing would stop them from meeting each other, he was wrong.

Speaking of Frank, he's quite unlucky…

Piper and Jason were having a nice time. Piper, especially, hadn't felt so comforted and relaxed since the Romans invaded her home and killed her father.

Romans. She suddenly realized she had fallen in love with a _Roman_.

Piper vaguely wondered what her father would say, falling in love with an enemy.

But right now, it didn't matter. Right now, they are the only people in this universe as they took each in, snuggling into each other's embrace.

Piper laid her head on Jason's chest. He smells like soap, sweat, and slightly like burning parchment. His hair was silky and soft as she ran her hand through it, his eyes such a unique blue…

Suddenly, the prince's chambers' doors slammed open, revealing a red faced, panting Frank. When he saw Piper and Jason, snuggled against each other, he turned, if possible, even redder.

As stated above, Frank was quite unlucky.

"I-I'm so-so sorry, P-Prince," poor Frank stammered. Blushing, the couple broke apart.

"What is it, Frank?" Jason asked calmly, as if nothing had happened before.

Frank composed himself, but the thought of what he has to say to the Prince is making him all nervous again.

Why? Because it's bad news.

"Prince," Frank said quickly. "You have to come right now. It's that centurion… Centurion Nakamura! He was found dead…"

"What?" Jason was shocked.

Frank nodded solemnly. "Centurion Nakamura was found murdered in the hall, in front of the meeting room."


	9. Clues

**VIII**

Unconsciously, Thalia fell asleep. When she woke, Thalia tried to stifle a moan. When was the last time since she had drunk water? Eveyr swallow felt as if someone was forcing an iron poker down her throat.

Thalia rubbed her eyes. When she opened them again, she found a plate of stale bread and a cup of sour goat milk beside her. The Romans were probably going to kill her for interfering with the fights the day before, but why would they give her food if they were about to kill her?

Just then, a bored looking guard walked into the cell, carrying a scroll. He unraveled the paper and began to read.

"Emperor Octavian has decided to give you a chance to prove yourself in the arena. You will not be executed for your disruption. You will not interfere with other fights, or you will be killed. Is that understood?" the guard asked.

"Yes," Thalia said.

"Good. Come on out, then," the guard walked over and unclasped Thalia's chain, but he kept a firm grip on her arm as he hauled her out. She managed to stuff the bread into her pocket and gulped down the milk. The milk tasted horrible, but hey, she did need the water. She was, after all, incredibly dehydrated.

Soon, Thalia found herself at the bunks. The gladiators were cleaning their teeth, changing, and shoveling down breakfast as a tiny dark-skinned girl wheeled in some bread and cheese.

Thalia found herself a bunk next to Annabeth's. When Annabeth saw Thalia, she immediately threw her arms around her, sobbing.

"I thought they were going to kill you!" Annabeth sniffled.

"I'm alive. They won't kill me," Thalia said reassuringly.

The dark-skinned girl paused as she passed them, handing them some bread and cheese. Annabeth and Thalia thanked her as they ate.

Once she was done eating, Thalia straightened her shoulders. No matter what happened, she would survive.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

The cloaked figure smiled cruelly under his cloak. Right after breakfast, it was training. The gladiators had to run five times around the track, ten minutes of weight lifting before they sparred. He watched with cold blue eyes as a handsome dark-haired boy with sea green eyes whacked a straw dummy neatly into pieces, and raised his eyebrows at the two female gladiators who was sparring with each other.

Then, his gaze swiveled to two lanky boys practicing their archery in a corner.

Oh yes, he would remember them. Those were the two boys who snickered and called him names behind his back before he gave them a good punch they wouldn't forget in a hurry. Technically, name calling wasn't that offensive, but to him... He really did hate the name calling. It was actually quite insulting.

The cloaked figure leapt down from his perch. His feet landed lightly on the ground, making little to no noise. Slithering in the shadows, he skirted around the training center and slipped into the archery section...

Revenge would be sweet.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Annabeth was so glad Thalia was back she didn't know whether to cry with joy or laugh. It was actually very, very lonely in the arena, being the only girl and all.

Slowly, Annabeth went indoors for a drink. There was a small water bucket at the archery corner for those who were thirsty to drink. Quickly, Annabeth grabbed her cup and scooped up a mouthful, smiling as the cool water entered her throat, quenching her thirst immediately.

Just as Annabeth turned around to get back to training, her foot stepped onto a gladiator's hand.

"Oh! Sorry!" Annabeth quickly lifted her foot, but the gladiator made no sound.

Annabeth frowned and nudged the gladiator's hand again. The gladiator made no movement.

"Are you all right?" Annabeth asked. She bent down and managed to haul the gladiator out from the shadows, and nearly screamed.

It was Michael Yew, the gladiator from another nearby village. She definitely recognized his tiny size. A ring of dark purple bruises were around his neck, and his fingernails were torn from scrabbling something.

Annabeth stumbled back, hands over her mouth. Suddenly, she saw another figure. Oh yes, she definitely recognized Lee Fletcher's familiar face. A similar ring of bruises were around his neck too.

Annabeth sank onto her knees. She didn't know Michael and Lee that well, but they were nice kids. They didn't bully her or anything. They just kept to their own businesses. They didn't deserve to die like that.

"Annabeth, are you all right?" Percy asked, jogging up.

"Oh gods," Annabeth couldn't stifle the sob. "Lee and Michael... They're all dead!"

"What?" Percy yelped, as Leo, Nico, and Thalia came along to see the trouble.

Thalia glanced at the dead bodies and yelled for a centurion to come over for inspection.

Percy wrapped an arm around Annabeth and led her into the barracks. Gladiators were being murdered. Somehow, deep in her gut, Annabeth knew that one of them might be next.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Apparently, the murder had only been discovered ten minutes ago, but in less than twenty minutes, every single person in the palace, from the lowliest maid to the Emperor himself had known about the news. The female gladiator (Piper's eyes widened as she heard about it. A gladiator that was a girl!) had found two dead bodies in the archery section. She didn't murder them. It was confirmed by quite a few people that she had nothing to do with them. Along with the fact that Centurion Nakamura had died recently, the murders became the most fascinating gossip.

Piper smiled politely as she climbed into bed, trying to zone out the girl beside her's chatter. A centurion and two gladiators, dead. How could it have happened? How could a killer have made his way through the heavily armed gates to attack?

Suddenly, a dreadfully icy feeling trickled through Piper's veins. Centurion Nakamura was one of the most high-ranking officers in Rome. What if... the assassin was after Jason next?

No, no, no. Jason was practically the second or third most powerful person in Rome. The Emperor was far too well guarded, and no one in his right mind would try to attack the Emperor, but Jason... Jason refused to let a parade of arms follow him.

Without any backup, Jason could be killed easily.

Mind whirling, Piper thought. Jason could very well be the next victim. What could she do to help?

Suddenly, Piper thought of the gladiators. The gladiators also lost two of their members, probably also because of that mysterious killer too. All she had to do was to meet the gladiators and ask for their help! With their clues, she might just be able to piece them together and track the assassin down...

First things first. Piper must first see the site of Centurion Nakamura's murder.

Piper slipped out of her nightgown and into her servant's uniform. She grabbed a mop and a bucket of water. Around her, her fellow maidservants were all asleep. After a moment of hesitation, Piper grabbed a lantern with her. It may be bright in the palace, but down in the arena, it might be dark.

Quickly, Piper slipped upstairs. A few soldiers glanced at her. One of them asked her what she was doing, but Piper responded that her boss told her to clean the site of Centurion Nakamura's death. No one questioned her too harshly, thank goodness.

Soon, Piper arrived. She set down her mop and bucket. Centurion Nakamura's dead body had been removed, but there were still bloodstains. Piper glanced down. She saw a few flakes of rust, perhaps from a rusty knife, and grinned when she saw a footprint, nearly hidden in the dust. The assassin must have been careless, forgetting to wipe away the last footprint before he leapt out the window.

Piper quickly memorized the footprint's shape and quickly started cleaning. Once she was done, she set aside her bucket and mop, and went down the dark stairwells to the arena.

Outside was dark. Piper scurried across the courtyard and into the arena. Sure enough, the arena was dark and damp. The lantern caused shadows to dance. The sounds of rats scratching the walls were magnified in the stone tunnels. Occasionally, cold gusts of wind would flutter through the tunnels, causing the candle inside the lantern to flicker, and Piper would shudder. It would be unbearable to be stuck in the dark with those creepy, crawly, bugs and rats.

After a few more tunnels, Piper found a door. A warm glow seeped through the heavy door.

Cautiously, she knocked twice and waited for a while. Hasty footsteps were heard from the other side of the door. Then, everything went silent again, though only for a little while.

Suddenly, the door flung open, and Piper found herself face to face with the end of a knife.


	10. Talent

**IX**

"Oh my gods, I'm so sorry!" a dark skinned girl with curly brown hair and golden eyes apologized over and over again. "It's just people are getting killed in the arena and I was afraid you were the killer!"

"I doubt the killer would knock your door, asking for entrance to kill you," Piper mused.

The girl blushed. "Right. That was very foolish of me. I'm Hazel, by the way."

"Piper."

"Well, Piper," Hazel poured a cup of tea, "what brings you here in such an ungodly hour?"

"A Centurion in the palace was killed," Piper said immediately.

The dark skinned girl almost dropped her teacup. "What?"

"Killed. And you see…" Piper began telling Hazel about her time in the palace, falling in love with Jason, the prince… For some reason, she just felt like she could trust her.

When she finished, Hazel was gawking at her. "But that's awesome!" she protested. "The prince loves you! You could become a princess!"

Piper shook her head. "That's not the point. My point is, Centurion Nakamura was a high ranked officer, and Jason is also high ranked. I'm afraid that Jason would be killed… so I decided to investigate."

Hazel nodded in understanding, though Piper doubted she understood.

"I'll help you. Octavian is horrid and we could only hope that he dies soon and Jason takes over the throne."

Piper couldn't help but agree.

"So… what do you want to know?" Hazel asked eagerly.

Piper thought for a while. "I heard that there are female gladiators here…" Piper started slowly. "Can you tell me about them?"

The dark-skinned girl obliged. "There is a blonde one named Annabeth. Apparently, she's Greek, and before, she had… 'rebelled', you could say, for lack of better word, against her master. At first her master wanted her killed but thought the arena would be a, ah, more interesting idea. She's nice, apparently in love with Percy, a boy with black hair and green eyes. He's good looking and also one of the best fighters in the arena. He managed to kill Luke, who had been our best fighter for years! Annabeth is another one of the better fighters, likes daggers, unusually smart."

Piper nodded and stowed all the information to the back of her head.

"Then, there's Thalia. I'm not too sure about Thalia, though it is rumored that she was a princess, older sister of Prince Jason."

Piper's heart gave a little leap.

"She's also good at fighting," Hazel continued. "She can use just about any weapon, though she's handy with a bow and arrows. She hates boys, apparently, except for her friends Percy, Leo, and Nico, and hates flirting." Hazel continued on and on about certain different gladiators, talking so fast Piper's having trouble keeping up.

"Who were the victims here?" Piper interrupted.

Hazel paused for a second, then said, "Lee Fletcher and Michael Yew. Both are good with the bow. They're nice, though they make terrible enemies; super good with words. Last time I checked, they were calling names to Luke, but he's dead."

Piper nodded and glanced out the window. The moon was high in the sky already.

"I should be leaving now," the palace slave girl stood up, setting down her empty teacup. "It's getting late. Thank you for everything."

Hazel nodded and led Piper to the door, watching her as she hiked back to the palace.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Reyna couldn't't sleep. No, she's not getting nightmares or anything… she just can't.

Maybe it's the pressure of realizing that people are getting killed off one by one, or perhaps it's just the thoughts of her next conquering target.

Reyna was thoroughly tired. Her body's limp, energy-less, while her brain was a mumble-jumble of thoughts and decisions, fork-paths to walk, words to say.

Sounds confusing? Well, you're inside the Secret General's head.

Then, Reyna was jerked out of her thoughts at the sound of cautious knocking.

"Come in!" Reyna called, sitting up and running a hand through her wavy dark brown hair so it doesn't look too messy. When, she looked up, she saw a very pretty girl with choppy brown hair, and eyes that's ever-changing colors. She was wearing a slightly tattered, dirty slave dress.

Interesting, a slave girl.

"What are you doing here?" Reyna asked, her eyes narrowing.

The girl bowed. "My name is Piper, General Reyna," the slave girl said quietly. "I'm one of the palace slaves."

"That part is obvious enough."

Piper nodded. "You see, General, I'm sure you know, gladiators and centurions are being killed off one by one. I was worried, I believe you could relate, and also slightly scared. I was afraid the assassin would kill the Prince."

"And why would you be worried?" Reyna asked sharply.

Piper leaned forward as if telling a secret. "Well, I happen to realize that you aren't too fond of Emperor Octavian either."

Reyna looked away. Of course she agreed.

"Well, if Jason is dead when Octavian dies, who knows who will take his place? And Jason would be a kind, generous ruler," the slave girl pointed out.

Reyna was thoughtful.

"And Jason, unlike Octavian, doesn't like guards and soldiers following him around. He has no protection," Piper continued.

Slowly, Reyna nodded. "That is a fair point, Piper. You have a way with words. I will think about it."

Piper curtsied again. "Thank you, General." And she left the room, leaving Reyna to drown in even more thoughts.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

The next morning, Reyna called Piper to her room.

"I have made my decision to help you, slave girl," Reyna said. Piper's eye lit up in happiness and relief.

"Thank you so much!" she gushed.

"What I want to know is that why you asked me," Reyna mused.

"You seem trustworthy," the slave girl replied. "And you should get General Frank involved if possible. I've discovered that he seems to be quite a close friend of the Prince's."

Reyna narrowed her eyes. This girl seems to know a lot. "Tell me about all the information you've gathered," she demanded.

Piper bowed, sat down on a chair opposite of Reyna, and started talking. She had snuck into the arena where the gladiators were killed, interviewed one of the kitchen girls, and had also examined Centurion Nakamura's death scene. She had found a footprint.

According to her description of the footprint, it was barefoot, and obviously male. The footprint was wide, so whoever it was must have spent a lot of time walking or running.

In the arena, she had learned about the two dead gladiators, Lee and Michael, their names were. Apparently they were good archers, and used to tease and publicly humiliate one of the more skilled gladiators- Luke Castellan. Except said gladiator is dead, killed by a dagger thrown by the gods because he had cheated on a gladiator fight.

And anyways, even if he was still alive, why would he kill Centurion Nakamura?

There were still so many unsolved mysteries.

"First things first," Reyna stood up after Piper finished talking, "I have to visit the arena."

Piper nodded. "That would be wise. I will accompany you."

Reyna strapped a dagger to her thigh. "I will go inform General Frank. Meet me at the palace doors in 20 minutes."

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

True to Reyna's word, Piper, Frank, and Reyna met up 20 minutes later at the palace doors.

"I still don't get what we're doing!" Frank protested as he blundered behind the two girls, Reyna stalking forward confidently, chin up, and Piper trailing less than a pace behind her, holding a basket and looking the way a slave girl should.

Frank, however, wasn't as graceful. He jogged to keep up, following Reyna and Piper like a lost puppy following a stranger.

"Where are we going?" Frank asked again, though with the same amount of success as the past few times he asked. The General was met by silence except for the clinking of Reyna's armor as she walked, the swishing of her braid, the shuffling of their footsteps and the soft banging as the basket hit Piper's thigh with every two steps she took.

"Where-" Frank started to ask again but was cut off by Reyna who said briskly, "The arena."

There was a moment of silence as Frank took in the information. "Why?"

"To investigate," this time, Piper answered him. Reyna had briefly introduced Piper to him when they met up at the palace gates, which was unnecessary, seeing the fact that he had caught her kissing Jason quite a few times.

"More like to find a way to save Jason," Frank muttered under his breath. Thankfully, none of the girls heard him.

They arrived at the arena.

Inside, the arena was cool in the shade, but smelt kind of humid and damp, the smell of blood and sweat lingering in the air.

"Nice place," Reyna commented. "Much better than any other arenas I've been in."

"Piper?" A voice suddenly asked. The three people from the palace spun around to face a girl with dark skin, curly brown hair, and curious golden eyes.

"Hazel," Piper sounded surprised. "Right, of course, I should've expected you. You're a kitchen girl here."

Hazel nodded, examining the two strangers. "And who are these?"

"This is Reyna, and this is General Frank," the slave girl introduced.

Hazel bowed in respect. "I'll show you guys around, if you want."

They agreed.

And so the dark skinned girl began introducing them around the arena, telling them about the gladiators and other stuff.

Then, they passed the training center.

Reyna, Piper, and Frank were immediately mesmerized by the sight of a boy with black hair and green eyes fighting against a girl with blonde hair tied into a ponytail, and stormy, calculating gray eyes. Both of them were skilled, moving inhumanely fast, so fast their limbs and bodies were a blur.

Not far from the sparring couple was another girl, except she has short spiky black hair and shocking blue eyes. She was in the archery section, shooting arrow after arrow, sometimes running, climbing and rolling to avoid people and obstacles as she shot. Not a single arrow missed. After a while, the girl stopped and sat down in the shade, next to two boys. One boy has a mop of curly brown hair and a gigantic grin. He told a joke the moment the girl sat down, causing the two of them to laugh. The other boy was pale, deathly pale, with black hair and dark eyes. He was hugging his knees to his chest, staring at the sandy ground.

"Who are they?" Reyna asked Hazel, pointing at them.

Hazel followed her gaze. "Oh, them? That's Thalia, one of the best fighters ever. She's friends with Leo, the one with the crazy grin, and Nico, the sad looking one. Also with Percy and Annabeth, who's fighting over there."

Reyna nodded slowly, and then without another word, suddenly turned and stalked to the group of chatting friends.

"Reyna?" Piper called after her.

Thalia, Leo, and Nico looked up immediately when Reyna neared them. Thalia's eyes lit up with recognition. "I remember you!" she exclaimed. "You were at my-" she glanced at the two boys.

"Your execution, yes, I was there," Reyna was emotionlessly. Thalia winced while the two boys' eyes widened.

"Well then, what are you doing here?" she asked casually, though her electric blue eyes seem slightly unsettled. Electric blue, just like Jason.

Piper hurried up to Reyna and heard the question. "Well, you should know that two of your friends were killed. We're here to investigate, since one of our centurions was also murdered."

"Hey guys," Percy and Annabeth jogged over. "What's happening?"

Piper quickly explained the situation. Percy's expression darkened. "What can we do, though? It's not like we could figure out who the killer would murder next."

"Just observe. Report anything out of place. And also, don't get killed," Reyna instructed. The group of gladiators nodded.

And then, to everybody's surprise, Reyna sat down cross-legged on the sand with a sigh. "I've seen the three of you fight," she said, pointing at Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia. "You're good, so now I want to see the skills of the other two."

Leo raised a hand. "Unfortunately, pretty lady, I have managed to convince them to make me the blacksmith instead. I used to work in a mechanic shop before I came here."

Reyna furrowed her brows. _Pretty lady?_

Annabeth caught the Secret General's expression and laughed. "Ignore him, Reyna," she chuckled. "He's like that to everybody. Well, every girl, for that matter."

Nico nodded. "Thalia broke his nose when he called her hottie."

The Huntress smirked while Leo unconsciously rubbed his nose.

Reyna smiled, though the warmth didn't exactly reach her eyes. "But how about your fighting skills? What if the murderer decided to attack you?"

Percy shook his head, chuckling. "Obviously you've never seen him with too much sugar and a hammer. Maybe a couple of nails and strips of metal to top it all off."

Reyna cocked her head to one side, thoughtful for a moment, and then turned to the younger, paler boy. "What about you?"

Nico looked away, seeming slightly embarrassed. "I don't know how to fight," he mumbled.

Reyna frowned. "That's not good. You're just lucky you haven't been forced to fight yet."

The pale boy nodded.

"Well then," Reyna stood up, then reaching over and pulling Nico up by the back of his shirt. "I'll teach you."

The boy's mouth opened and closed for a moment, then he nodded.

"Go find a wooden sword. A long stick if you couldn't," Reyna instructed. Percy stood up, moving next to Reyna. "I'll help you."

And so Reyna and Percy began to teach the younger boy how to fight, while Hazel, Frank, Piper, Leo, Thalia, and Annabeth sitting in the shades, watching, chatting, occasionally shouting advice to Nico, who had a determined look on his face.

They practiced until the sun was about to set, and Reyna, Frank, and Piper has to leave.

Nico trudged back to where his friends were sitting. He was panting heavily and was covered with bruises.

"I'll be back tomorrow," Reyna said.

Then, before they left, the Secret General turned back to Nico. "You know," she said with a small smile, "you have a talent. You just need to know how to use it."

A small, sad smile quirked the tips of the younger boy's mouth. "Thank you," he whispered. "Bianca used to say so as well."


	11. Fighters

**X**

The Assassin sat on the shingles of the roof. The cool night air brushed his face as he stared at the small window of the building across the one he was sitting on. Behind the thin linen drapes, he could see silhouettes of movements.

He had killed the first commander of the gladiator project. Now, he had to take out the second commander.

He sprang down, his hand grasping the ledge easily. He found a foothold in the rough stone wall and waited.

The second commander fumbled around, hearing noises. The commander threw open the window and scanned the surroundings, but could not find anything... mostly because the Assassin was right under the window.

The commander exhaled and closed the window again. The Assassin waited for a few more minutes before making his move.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Every single day after the Gladiator Project's official announcement was tiring. Centurion Nakamura had been placed as first commander of the project, and she was placed as second commander.

Gwen really wished Emperor Octavian hadn't put her as the second commander. Most of the time, she was sent out all over the city to load slaves into arenas, and whenever there was a public fight, Emperor Octavian always put her in the front seats, thinking that she'd like the gore, but she really didn't.

It was cruel. Did anyone honestly think that she actually liked watching people get killed? It was horrible.

Gwen sighed and unstrapped her armor, placing them in their chest while she undressed and slipped into a steaming, warm bath. To be honest, Roman baths were great.

Gwen sighed. Rose and jasmine petals were lightly strewn onto the water's surface, giving the room a nice, flowery smell. The water was heated to just the perfect temperature, and the array of soaps and shampoos were neatly arranged and ready to be used.

Just as she was reaching for a bar of soap, something rustled outside. There was a quick scratching noise, and then silence.

Immediately, Gwen froze. Was it just a careless palace servant... or was it an assassin?

Gwen dragged herself out of the water and slipped into a thin robe. She opened the door cautiously and reached for a dagger. Once she got the weapon in her hand, she shoved the window open and glanced around.

There was no one.

Gwen knew she must continue working, but the cool night air chilled her skin, so she closed the window and continued to shower.

Once she was done, Gwen slipped into another robe and got ready for bed. She prepared a glass of water and grabbed a book...

And that was when the trouble started.

Gwen stumbled aside as a knife pierced her bookshelf, stabbing a few books. A flurry of pages and parchment flew everywhere, scattering all over the floor as a black, hooded person wielding knives sprang towards her.

Gwen stepped back, reaching for her javelin, but the pages all over the floor made her trip and stumble every few steps. Once, she nearly lost her balance as she slipped on a sheet of paper.

Fortunately, the Assassin was also having some problems. Likewise, he was also stumbling over the pages, buying Gwen enough time to grab her javelin.

Gwen raised her javelin to throw, but the Assassin was ready. While Gwen hurled the weapon, the Assassin sprang aside and reached for her throat. The two of them crashed to the floor, wrestling, knocking down furniture and smashing vases.

Gwen tried to fight, but the Assassin was far too strong. He managed to grasp her by the throat and squeezed.

Spots of red and black danced across Gwen's vision as she struggled. She kicked, bit, and punched, but her vision dimmed and her blows soon grew ridiculously weak.

Suddenly, Gwen's hand closed around her dagger.

Without any hesitation, Gwen threw the dagger towards the Assassin. There was a grunt of pain, and desperately, Gwen hoped that the dagger had got itself into one of his main arteries or maybe his heart...

The Assassin grunted again. Gwen saw his shoulder bloody. The Assassin swore and yanked the dagger out.

Desperately, Gwen got to her feet and rapidly crawled out the door.

"Guards!" Gwen screamed hoarsely.

Immediately, two Roman soldiers burst into the room. The Assassin swore. He made one more grab at Gwen's throat, but Gwen managed to roll aside, but not before she saw a fragment of the Assassin's face.

As the Assassin sprang out the window, Gwen would never forget that the Assassin had a long, silvery scar on his face...

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

It really does suck when you have to get out of bed when you're just starting to fall asleep.

"Quick! Centurion Gwen was nearly killed!"

Reyna swore, sprang out of bed, dressed, and ran to the meeting room in less than two minutes. By then, everyone was already there, looking grumpy, sleepy, and scared.

"This is unacceptable!" Octavian roared, smashing his fist on the table and knocking over mugs of tea. "Two gladiators, one Centurion, and nearly another one... assassinated! This is a disgrace!"

The council remained silent.

"Now," Octavian's voice turned dangerous. "Did anyone start investigating the murder?"

No one dared to breathe.

"I did, sir," Reyna said, her voice calm.

"And did you find anything?" Octavian asked.

"We know for sure that the assassin is male," Reyna said. "And he knows the palace well, and the gladiator arena even better,"

"And do you know who he is or how he looks like?" Octavian's voice now had a challenging quality to it.

Reyna's mouth went dry.

"I know how he looks like!" Gwen said.

"You do?" Octavian glanced at Gwen.

A medic had taken care of Gwen's bruises, and her neck was wrapped in a thin layer of bandages. Gwen had arrived slightly later than the others, but was there for most of the conversation.

"Y-yes. He had a scar on his face," Gwen stuttered.

"What else did you see?" Octavian asked.

"That's about it," Gwen stared at her hands.

Octavian snarled. "I want this all sorted out by next week, do you understand?"

"Yes," Reyna said hoarsely.

"Good. Then, you are all dismissed,"

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

"A scar?" Annabeth asked.

"Yes, a scar," Reyna said.

She had snuck out and given them another training session, along with the news of the almost assassination of Gwen.

"Could it be..." Annabeth started, but Percy shook his head and said, "He's dead."

"Well, you're going to run out of luck, 'cause lots of people have scars on their faces," Leo said simply, stuffing a mouthful of bread into his mouth.

Reyna scowled at him, and the training session resumed in silence.

Once Reyna had to leave, Leo flopped down onto his bunk and groaned. Reyna had given him a particularly hard whop on his rump, and it was going to hurt whenever he wanted to sit.

Slowly, other gladiators lay down on their bunks. A few loaves of bread were passed around, but that was it. Leo took his share and stared at the rough stone ceiling coated with grime. When he glanced at his skin, it seemed paler than normal. Most of the time, they were trapped underground, unless if it was training or viewing the deaths of their friends.

"You are not going to move,"

Leo nearly sprang out of his skin as he felt an icy blade on his neck. The assassin had crept from under the bed and was leaning over him. Leo was unable to see his face.

"You are going to come with me outside where I can kill you,"

The voice was a hoarse whisper.

"You're crazy," Leo said, a little too loudly.

"Leo, are you all right?" Annabeth asked.

The knife tip dug into his throat, drawing a few beads of blood.

"I'm great," Leo said, his voice shakier.

"You don't sound great," Annabeth scolded. Leo nearly cried with relief as he heard Annabeth's footsteps.

"You'd better go now," Leo snickered quietly to the Assassin. "Percy's always with Annabeth, and you sure don't want to face him... do you?"

The Assassin snarled and disappeared.

"Leo, are you all right?" Annabeth asked, looking at him, concerned.

"Nah, I'm great. Why shouldn't I be? I just saw the Assassin!" Leo said airily.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

All his friends gathered around Percy's bunk as Leo recalled his close call with the Assassin.

"We need to be careful," Percy said immediately.

"Hear, hear," Leo agreed, pressing a rag to his slightly bleeding throat.

"Right now, we stay alert. Whenever we need to go somewhere, especially at night, we need to go in pairs. When we train, we stick together. Try to avoid places where there aren't any people, all right?" Percy asked, voice serious.

"Yes," Annabeth agreed. "We should also tell Reyna about this. Do you think that this Assassin has some sort of personal vendetta against the Roman Empire? So far, I don't think he has targeted any civilians yet. He's mostly targeting gladiators and Centurions... Centurions that play a part in the Gladiator Project. Do you think he could be a... gladiator?"

No one answered Annabeth's question.

Annabeth soon tried to go back to sleep at her bunk, but she couldn't. Every single creak and squeak seemed as if someone was sneaking up on her, ready to slice a blade across her throat.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

For the next few days, there was nothing. Annabeth's routines went on normally. Soon, their attentiveness started wearing down. They were still alert, but not as alert as before.

One perfectly fine day, Annabeth went to training. Annabeth fought, but soon realized that her dagger was getting slightly blunt.

"Do you need to sharpen it?" Thalia asked, inspecting the edge.

"Yes," Annabeth agreed. "I'll get my sharpening stone from my bunk,"

"I'll come with you," Thalia said immediately.

"It's all right. I might need to use the latrine on the way there, anyway," Annabeth said honestly.

The latrines were basically a section cleared off by a ring of fences that reeked and was packed with flies. No one really liked to go there, but they had to, which was really just sad.

"All right, you can go alone," Thalia said quickly.

Smiling, Annabeth went over to the latrines and did her business as quickly as possible. Once she was done, she went to the barracks to get her sharpening stone and once more, trouble struck.

Someone covered her mouth. Annabeth screamed and kicked, her knife slipping from her hands and clanging onto the floor.

"Percy! Help!" Annabeth shrieked. Somehow, her fist managed to smack into the person's stomach. The person released her.

Percy charged into the barracks, sword ready. Annabeth groped for her dagger and grabbed it.

"Who are you?" Percy yelled.

The mystery attacker made no noise. His hood draped over his face, and he drew a knife.

Horrifically, Percy and the killer began to fight. Neither of them could gain the upper hand, but both were incredibly skilled.

"HEY!"

Annabeth whirled around to see Thalia and Reyna springing in, weapons ready.

The Assassin also saw the new arrivals. He jerked his hand back. Percy managed to spring forward and tear off his hood...

And time seemed to freeze as they all saw his face.

Reyna gasped. Thalia gawped. Percy moaned. Annabeth blanched.

"Luke?" Annabeth asked in disbelief.

The Assassin smiled coldly, the scar on his face rippling slightly. "The one and only."


	12. Horror

**XI**

Percy didn't hesitate to attack again. It doesn't matter that somebody seems to have come back from the dead. It doesn't matter that that somebody happens to be Luke, his rival-for-life and also in death and is supposedly killed by the _gods_. Who does he think he is, disobeying the wishes of the gods? But anyways, the only thing that matters right now, is that this son of a gorgon had attacked _Annabeth_.

But doesn't he love Annabeth? If so, why not just kidnap her and not try to kill her?

Well, kidnapping her might not be a good idea, considering the fact that she is an awesome fighter.

Percy dodged an attack from Luke and slashed out, the two boys' swords making contact with a loud _CLANG!_

Percy took a deep breath to calm his mind so he could concentrate and continued fighting, dodging and slashing for what seemed like hours but really might be just a few minutes.

From the corner of his eyes, Percy could see Reyna and Thalia asking Annabeth if she's okay. Slightly distracted by Annabeth's answer, he didn't duck fast enough when Luke slammed the hilt of his sword at Percy's head, knocking stars into his vision.

"Percy!" he heard Annabeth scream, and could vaguely hear Luke laughing. When his vision returned, he found Luke right above him, his sword raised above his head for a death blow. At that moment, Thalia raised her bow and shot an arrow right into his arm, causing him to drop his sword, more in surprise than in pain.

Luke let out a string of curse words.

"Ouch, my ears," Percy said and chuckled, despite his position. Luke scowled and kicked him in the stomach.

Then, Reyna sprung forward, along with Annabeth, and the two girls started battling Luke while Percy doubled over on the ground, coughing.

However, even though the two girls are extremely skilled, Luke disarmed Reyna and pushed away, causing her to slam into the wall. As she was slumped there, gasping for breath, Percy slowly got to his feet. Thalia had run out to call Nico and Leo.

And then, somehow, Annabeth managed to disarmed him and pointed her dagger at his throat. Luke smiled coldly, however. "You wouldn't kill me, Annie, would you?" he taunted.

"Don't call me Annie," the girl gladiator growled through gritted teeth.

The killer laughed. "You don't have the heart to kill me!"

Annabeth, her eyes wide with rage, said in a soft yet deadly voice. "Really?" And she stabbed him through the neck. Luke's eyes widened for a moment, before he closed them and smiled. Not his usual cold, worship-me smile, but a warm, almost brotherly and happy smile.

His lips moved, though Percy didn't hear anything, Annabeth's eyes widened and she clapped a hand over her mouth, looking like she's about to cry. Luke slumped to the ground.

At that moment, Thalia burst in with Leo and Nico hot on her heels, followed (surprisingly) by Hazel, Frank, Calypso, and Piper. They all looked around for any signs of danger, but were met by none. Then, they saw Luke's dead body and their eyes widened, their mouths dropped open at the same time.

"You killed him?" Thalia asked.

"It's Luke?" Leo and Nico were shocked beyond their minds.

"Is that the assassin?" Frank and Hazel peered at the dead body. "Holy smoke, Luke!" Hazel yelped.

"So he's gone? The assassin is gone?" Piper sounded hopeful.

"Yes, fortunately," Reyna said, groaning as she climbed to her feet, holding the wall for support. Percy, already steady on his feet, held out a hand to help her. Annabeth was the only silent one, pulling her dagger out of Luke's throat and just stared at it, absentmindedly wiping away a bit of the blood.

Calypso noticed her and went up to her. "Are you okay?"

Annabeth shook her head. "I'm not sure. I'm just so… shocked. Luke, you know, he-he said before he died…" Annabeth didn't finish.

Calypso didn't push her either. "Don't worry, shock is a symptom when it's your first kill. It gets better in the future."

Annabeth wiped her dagger on her tunic. "I don't want to kill people," she whispered, her voice cracking. "I never wanted this."

Calypso smiled sadly. "But you have to, Annabeth. No one here wanted it, but they still got it anyways. The Fates have your life planned out Annabeth. Whether it's good or bad, it depends on them. And no matter how unexpected, your life will always go as planned. Maybe not your plan, but the Fates. And everything will always be all right in the end. If it's not all right, it's not the end."

Annabeth nodded. She was staring at her dagger again.

Then, she felt somebody warm hugging her. The smell of sweat, blood and the sea filled her nose and she smiled, leaning against the source of warmth.

"You okay?" Percy asked.

Annabeth nodded and looked sadly at Luke's corpse. "Even though somebody isn't."

Percy laughed, though it sounds kind of sad. "Yeah, well. Some people's journeys end, but others have to keep going, because they haven't reached the ultimate point yet."

The blonde girl chuckled. "Why does everyone seem so… philosophical today? It's actually getting kind of annoying."

Percy shrugged. "We missed lunch."

"That's off topic!"

"We'll get you something to eat," Hazel and Calypso volunteered. The rest of them cheered.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

"Another day, another bunch of people gets torn to pieces," Leo sighed. Once again, we were seated just outside the arena, watching people get killed.

"You know, it's getting hard to believe how lucky you guys are," Calypso said. "None of you had to fight to the death yet! Other than Percy, of course," she added.

"I suggest you not to say things like that, Calypso," a familiar voice said. The group of gladiators and kitchen girls turned around to see Reyna strolling towards them, Frank not far behind. Hazel waved at him and he waved back, turning slightly pink.

 _'Hmmm…'_ Calypso thought. _'Suspicious…'_

"Why not?" Calypso asked the Secret General.

"Well," Piper appeared behind them, "people say that words have magic. You can say something and it may be a curse. Saying that could actually make one of them have to fight to the death!"

"You're not one to talk," Reyna said and sat down next to Nico. "I've seen you talk a guard to sleep."

"So you mean she can be extremely boring?" Leo asked. "If so, then I sympathize that guard. I've heard Annabeth's architecture lectures before."

The two girls punched him at the same time, one on the shoulder and the other in the stomach.

"Not really," Reyna told the boy in pain. "She just went like, 'You're very sleepy, you want to sleep. Why don't you just lie down there by the wall and take a little nap? You'll be fine.' And the guard went slump."

Frank nodded. "I remember that. We were coming back from the arena one day and a guard caught us. Piper saved our lives."

The pretty palace slave blushed and muttered something like, 'It's nothing.'

"Nothing?" Frank exclaimed. "You saved our lives! Literally."

Piper shook her head. "No, really, I just-"

"Stop being so modest!" Reyna snapped, though she's smiling slightly. Piper sighed. Then, the Secret General turned to the boy next to her.

"Are you practicing?" she asked Nico, who nodded.

"If I don't practice, you'll beat me up," he grumbled.

"Just like everyday," said Thalia, grinning. Nico scowled.

"Thalia, don't be mean!" Annabeth slapped her on the arm, though she was laughing. "Though that _is_ kind of true. Nico, I think you should practice some more."

Nico stared at her in disbelief. "Are you telling me to skip all my meals?"

The blonde girl shrugged. "Sure, why not? Then, you could give your meals to Percy and he won't steal from mine."

Percy gave Annabeth a lopsided smile. "Thanks, Wise Girl."

"Hey!" Nico spluttered. "I didn't even agree in doing that yet!"

The others laughed and patted the very disgruntled boy on the back. "I'll make sure he sticks to his word!" Hazel volunteered.

"But-"

"I'll help him practice!" Thalia cut him off, lazily raising a hand, and smirking. "And whop his ass while I'm at it."

"Tha-" Nico fumed.

"Language, Thals," Annabeth chimed.

"Yes, Mother Hen," Thalia chimed back. Everybody else, excluding Nico laughed.

Annabeth huffed and turned to Nico, deciding to tease the younger boy instead. "Oh right, Nico, I'll also lend you some books that have tricks and advice in sword fighting!"

"NO!" Nico sounded horrified. A few of his friends snickered.

"I'm so glad to see you guys all coming together to help my… _apprentice_ ," Reyna announced, smirking at younger boy. "I'm sure I'd be able to see him improve greatly because of all of you."

"You're welcome, Reyna," the rest of them, excluding Nico, of course, chorused.

"You guys are so _mean_!" Nico whined.

"Yeah well," the others shrugged. "You're the youngest one here so it's only reasonable if we tease you."

"That's not teasing," Nico grumbled. "That was bullying."

Thalia slung an arm around his shoulder and pinched his cheeks. "Little Neeks going to cry?"

"No!"

"So why you look so sad? Why teary eyes?"

Nico gave her a weird look. "NO. I have no idea what you're talking about, Pinecone Face."

Thalia gasped and looked at Nico like, _'How dare you?'_ and put a hand over her heart, feigning hurt. "Boy," she said, shaking her head, "That was _harsh_."

"I know," said the pale boy. "It was supposed to be."

Thalia grabbed him in a headlock. "You little son of a-"

"Language!" Annabeth warned.

"-witch!" Thalia finished. "Have you forgotten I'm gonna beat you up later?"

Nico stopped struggling and his jaws dropped open. "Wait, you guys were serious?"

"Of course!"

Nico looked ready to scream in frustration.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Off by the side of the group of merrily chatting friends, Calypso sat with her knees pulled up to her chest and was staring at the sandy ground, her long, elegant fingers picking up handfuls of sand and letting them trickle slowly through her fingers.

No, she's not sad or anything. She's just thinking.

Calypso couldn't stop thinking about what Piper said earlier. _What if Piper is right? What if something really did happen and one of her friends have to fight to the death? What if it's Leo?_

Thousands of questions ran through her mind, each causing her anxiety to grow. Finally, the logical part of her mind snapped at her, _'Don't be stupid; it's just a saying!'_

But the other part of her mind told her, _'Sayings don't just come out of nowhere.'_

But they are only sayings, right? Nothing's going to happen to anyone of her friends, right?

If only that's true.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

"Nothing beats a good breakfast of toast or bread or porridge or stew," Percy announced as he and his girlfriend strolled towards the dining room.

Annabeth frowned. "Toast and bread is basically the same thing, Percy. So is porridge and stew."

The green-eyed boy shrugged. "Who cares?"

"Annabeth does," Thalia joined them.

"How's Nico?" Percy asked. "You didn't kill him, did you?"

Thalia looked falsely horrified. "Of course not! Why would I do such thing?"

"Because," Leo came up to them, grinning as usual, "you're evil, Thals."

Thalia glared at him before saying in a more serious tone, "I think I was too hard on him. He could hardly get himself out of bed today. I think he's trying to dress himself right now without hurting himself."

"Oh yeah, how did the… _training_ went?" Annabeth asked.

"I don't get how Reyna does it," the Huntress grumbled. "That little boy knows more curse words than _me_."

"He what?" Percy was shocked.

"You heard me the first time, Kelp Head."

Percy ignored the insult and growled, "Next time, I'm going to stuff a bar of soap into his mouth."

Annabeth smiled. "You sure care about him."

"Yeah well," Percy shrugged. "I kind of pity him. He's so young and stuff and he's already seeing people get killed. It's sad, really."

"Yeah," the others sighed.

"I don't… want… your… pities," a gritted, strained voice sounded behind them. The three friends spun around to find Leo running over to help support a pissed-looking Nico who was wincing with every step he took, despite Leo helping him walk.

"You don't want it," Thalia said. "But you need it."

"No… I… DON'T," Nico said. Percy winced.

"Just how bad did you beat him up, Air Head?" he asked.

The Huntress shrugged. "Not much, really."

"Not… MUCH?" Nico seethed. "Do you… know… how much… pain… I'm in? My legs look like… a gigantic… bruise!"

"Well it's not my fault you fell down the stairs," Thalia said smugly.

" _You_ were the one who _tripped_ me and _pushed_ me down the stairs!" Nico was so mad he was ignoring his pain and talking normally.

The dark haired girl shrugged. They made their way to the dining room in silence. When they sat down to eat, Nico was still glaring at the older girl.

"Morning, guys," Calypso said cheerfully as she poured stew into their waiting bowls. Hazel joined them. "How's your training, Nico?"

The dark haired boy just grunted and glared pointedly at Thalia.

Hazel chuckled. "Glad to see you guys-"

"Attention!" a loud voice cut Hazel off. Everybody's heads swerved around to see a soldier standing there, looking smug, his small piggy eyes scanning the room.

When he was satisfied that all the attentions were on him (or so he thinks), he continued, "Once again, the Emperor is coming over to our arena for entertainment. So today, we have something very special to show him."

Now all the attentions really are on him. "Outside, at this very moment, workers is building a maze in the arena. It will be too tall for any of you guys to look over the edge, but short enough for the audience to be able to see all of you. Now… any volunteers for this fight to please the Emperor?"

A few big, tall gladiators stood up; amongst them are two of the giants that represented Rome in the Rome V.S. Greece fight. Thalia's eyes narrowed.

The soldier looked at the volunteered fighters. "Put yourself in pairs," he instructed. "That's your group and fighting partner."

When the gladiators paired themselves up, the soldier took one look and said, "Too less people."

So randomly, he began to pick other pairs out of the crowd of dining gladiators. A small crowd formed behind him, mostly filled with terrified looks and nervous expressions.

"One more pair…" he looked around the room. Then, he pointed at two people.

Time seem to freeze.

A loud crash sounded and everyone looked around to see that Calypso, hands shaky with horror and fright, had dropped her pot of stew, the food splattering all over the ground like vomit. She was pale and clammy, looking like she's about to faint.

"I'm so sorry," she said shakily and backed away into the kitchen to grab something to clean up her mess. A few people muttered how strange it is for her to just suddenly drop the stew.

But Hazel, Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia knew how she felt, and they know why.

The soldier is pointing at Leo and Nico.


	13. Survival

**XII**

Frank wasn't really the type to notice others... especially girls. Frank never noticed any girl. He was just a general. He had no time for girls and... dating.

But when he went down to the arena to catch Luke, he noticed... a girl.

For the first time he saw her, both of them were running to their friends, ready to save them from the Assassin. That time, Hazel's hair was wild around her face, her aprons and skirts stained with grease, and flour up to her elbows. He barely had time to notice her as they fought, but once it was over, Frank could barely stop staring at her.

Hazel actually had really nice curly cinnamon-brown hair, and the large golden eyes were actually really pretty, bringing out streaks of gold in her hair. Her dark coffee-and-cream skin matched her features perfectly.

Once it was all over, Frank was about to trudge back to the palace, but Hazel called his name and offered him some muffins before he left. Even though the muffins were made of rough grain and did not have too much sugar in them (after all, the gladiator's menu was not that extravagant), they were still the best muffins he had ever tasted. Seriously, he still kept that wrapper in his cabinet.

Later on, they met again in the arena when they were about to view another gladiator fight. Hazel waved shyly, and Frank waved back, feeling his face flush. Hazel's friend, Calypso, grinned and winked knowingly, causing both of their faces to look like tomatoes for the next hour or so.

Before they departed in different ways, something caused Frank to act. He somehow found himself slipping a note to Hazel as they walked in separate ways...

The note read: Behind the Kitchens, 8:00 PM, tomorrow.

Now, Frank was in his room. He sat on the bed and once more, Hazel's face flitted around in his mind, and dreamily, he smiled. Instantly, he thought of Jason and Piper. A prince falling in love with a lowly maidservant. Right now, he was in the same position. A high-ranking general falling in love with an even lowlier kitchen maid.

Frank knew that it was nearly 8:00, but he glanced at himself nervously in the mirror. He smoothed his short hair back, letting a bit of light shine onto his face. Somehow, he wished he didn't have such a babyish face.

Frank inhaled, exhaled, and walked out.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Hazel knew she was being incredibly stupid, but she couldn't help it. She just had this completely crazy and irrational crush on General Frank.

Ridiculous, right? How in the world could a servant fall in love with a general?

As they left the arena the day before, Frank slipped a note into Hazel's hands. Hazel couldn't read, so she searched for Nico or Annabeth (who could read) to help her translate.

As they read it, their eyes bugged out, and they translated for her.

So the next day, Hazel found herself behind the Kitchens at 7:30 PM, wearing her cleanest dress and apron, and hoping that she didn't smell like the stew she had just cooked. Hazel didn't know much about relationships, but she was sure boys didn't like girls who smelled like stewed beef and chicken.

When it was eight, Hazel's palms started getting sweaty. What if Frank didn't come? What if it was just some sort of a strange, mutated joke?

Just as Hazel finally decided to head back, Frank appeared in the distance, loose straps of his armor flapping and huffing like a rhino.

"Oh my gods, Hazel, I'm so sorry I'm late!" Frank puffed.

"Frank!" Hazel cried, delighted. It wasn't a trick after all!

The two of them hugged. Hazel buried her face into Frank's chest, and Frank patted her back reassuringly.

After the hug came the kiss.

It was completely impulsive. Once they separated, Hazel leaned forward and promptly gave Frank a quick kiss on the lips. When they stood back again, Frank's face looked like the juice of a hundred tomatoes squeezed together. Hazel's face probably looked like that too.

"Wow. Just... wow. Thanks!" Frank stuttered.

"No problem," Hazel said back, shakily but grinning so much she felt like the female and more mutated version of Leo.

After an hour of walking around together, Hazel soon had to return to the Kitchens, and Frank back to the palace. After a final departing kiss, Hazel was still giddy with excitement as she started washing dishes...

Until a guard came in and decided that Leo and Nico were going to fight in the arena the next day.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Once the guard finished reading their names, Nico paled, but Leo spread his arms wide and grinned.

"GREAT! You two big beefy guys... Get ready to be SMASHED, 'cause Uncle Leo's gonna give you two something big to chew on," Leo smirked.

"Shut up, shorty," one of them said.

"Don't count on your ego to boost your size," the other one snorted. The guard smirked and left the room.

"Good job, Leo," Nico said sourly, eyeing the two giants nervously.

"Hey..." Leo started, but was knocked down by Calypso.

"HOW DARE YOU TREAT THIS AS A JOKE, LEO VALDEZ! YOU ARE GOING TO DIE, AND YOU ARE STILL LAUGING ABOUT IT?" Calypso shrieked.

"Hey, Sunshine, calm down, will you!" Leo laughed. "I'll be fine. I might not look like much, but my brains are probably even bigger than Annabeth's."

"Hard to believe that," Annabeth snorted, but her voice cracked at the end. Percy wrapped an arm around his girlfriend.

Leo and Nico were soon ushered into their bunks. After the initial drama, everyone was somber and sad, as if going to their funerals already.

"Cheer up, guys. We're not dead yet," Leo said airily.

"You will be soon," Calypso sniffled. Hazel was in pieces, and Annabeth was comforting her.

"But..." Leo began again, but Nico elbowed him in the ribs.

"What was that for?" Leo protested, rubbing his sore ribs.

"Do you know what false hope is?" Nico asked. "Don't trick yourself into believing that you're going to survive, because face the facts: There is no way we're going to survive against the two Romans,"

"But..." Leo started again. "Do you know what a gut sense is? Most of the time, my gut sense is always right. And my gut sense says that we're going to win this, so cheer up, kids, 'cause Uncle Leo ain't gonna die so easy,"

That earned a few rusty laughs, but Calypso continued sobbing.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Calypso wanted to both scream and laugh at Leo at the same time. She wanted to scream because of his stupidity. How could you still joke around like nothing's wrong when you're about to be killed? She wanted to laugh because... well, Leo was Leo, and somehow, Leo always made her laugh.

"Hey, Calypso, it will be fine. I'll come back alive," Leo promised, patting her shoulder.

Calypso continued sobbing.

Then, Leo did the impossible. He leaned forward and kissed her.

On the lips.

Calypso froze, rigid, but she did not push Leo back. Once they separated, Leo was blushing furiously. Numbly, Calypso brushed her own face, but they were cold as ice.

"Sorry, if that offended you or anything..." Leo said nervously, glancing around. Hazel was fanning her face furiously. Percy, Annabeth, and Nico were gawping, while Thalia mumbled, "Keep this PG-13, please," under her breath.

"I'm good," Calypso said raggedly. She leaned forward and kissed Leo.

On the lips, too.

"I need some air!" Hazel squeaked and fled to the kitchen.

"I need some water," Percy mumbled and walked away, followed by Annabeth, who looked as if she was about to sneeze and frown at the same time.

"Just keep this casual, all right?" Thalia said quickly, slipping off to her own bunk.

"I'm gonna die," Nico moaned, and headed off.

"Guess we chased our audience away," Calypso said.

"And I have no problem with that," Leo replied. "But whatever comes along, I'll make it out alive, Sunshine. Seriously, I mean it,"

The two of them kissed.

Again.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Nico moaned in his sleep. Leo kissed Calypso. Calypso kissed Leo back. And they were probably still snogging right as he was trying to get some sleep.

They were going to die the next day, and Leo wasn't even trying to take it seriously!

Somehow, Nico found himself smiling and shaking his head. That kid never took anything seriously, did he?

Slowly, Nico drifted off to sleep, unaware of the events the next day would bring.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

When Nico woke, it was probably one of the best days ever. Sometimes, he would wake with a warm feeling in his stomach. He would be in an abnormally good mood, and no matter how hard the day was, everything would turn out fine.

Which was kind of ironic, since he was going to die in less than an hour.

Around him, gladiators were getting up. A few of them shot him sympathetic glances, but most of them stared at their feet and ignored him.

Hazel soon bustled in, passing out bowls of porridge. She scooped an extra large helping in Nico and Leo's bowl, and slipped them a small cup of honey each.

Nico's mouth watered. It had been ages since he had eaten honey! Honey was rare, even when Bianca was alive and when he was still rich enough to afford food. The first time he had honey was a long time ago, Bianca had raided a beehive and managed to scoop a few handfuls of honey with her swollen, stung hands, and that honey had been the best he had ever tasted. Strangely enough, the honey he ate now tasted even better than the ones Bianca gave.

Shoving back sad memories, Nico wondered how Hazel got the honey. He knew that the palace kept some jars of honey for the Emperor, but there was no way any honey would be given to the gladiators. Did Hazel steal the honey? Or did Piper sneak some for Hazel?

Nico shrugged, but honestly, he was touched.

Nico quickly finished his food as a guard stormed into the room.

"You, you, you, and you," the guard pointed a meaty finger at the gladiators, which were Leo, the two giants, and himself. "Get to the Prep Room and get dressed,"

Nico soon found himself herded into a small damp room. In front of him was a large wooden door.

Hazel bustled in, her arms full of armor. She set down the armor and started dressing him.

"Stay alive, all right?" Hazel asked, her large golden eyes wide with hope.

"I-I'll try," Nico stammered.

Hazel nodded, but a tiny tear dripped onto her skirt. Nico did not say a thing. When he was dressed and when Hazel left, Nico glanced down at the armor and admired himself. The armor was pure black, with a gleaming, shell-like breastplate. The chain mail was in a dark silver shade, and the helmet...

Oh, Nico loved that helmet. It was shaped like a skull, empty black eyes and gaping teeth molded onto the cold black metal. Sheepishly, Nico had to admit that it suited him.

Soon, Leo entered the Prep Room. He was dressed in fiery-colored bronze armor, the links and plates fitted snugly into each other. Leo looked like a walking, mechanical human... In a good and slightly impressive way.

"Looking good, Neeks," Leo nodded in approval, folding his arms cleverly across his chest.

"You look good, too," Nico said.

Leo gave him a toothy grin as the doors opened; the portcullis lifted, and the arena came into view.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

The sun dazzled Leo's eyes. Leo raised his hand to shield his eyes before he got used to the brightness, and couldn't help but to stifle a gasp. In front of him were walls, winding and intersecting into different passageways. Beside him, Nico's jaw was dangling.

"Welcome to the Maze Battle! There are eight pairs of gladiators from all over Rome in this arena, and they must make their way to the center of the maze to fight the last battle. Be warned that there are traps and wild beasts prowling the passages, ready to prey on unsuspecting gladiators. You might also want to know that there is a figurine of our goddess, Minerva, with one pair of the gladiators. If you happen to defeat the gladiator who has the figurine, take it, because there will be no victor if the figurine is lost. Yes, if you are the victor and if you do not have the figurine, you will be put to death." An announcer called.

Leo nodded. They had to grab the figurine and fight to the center of the maze. That was the rules.

"Ready, set, FIGHT!" the announcer bellowed.

Nico drew his sword. Leo raised his hammer. Together, they charged into the maze.

They chose the passageway on the right. Their feet pounded on the ground, kicking up sprays of dirt and sand. For the first fifty meters or so, they had no problem. Just as Leo was starting to wonder where the traps and beasts were, his sixth sense suddenly tingled. "Nico, duck!" Leo yelled. He yanked Nico down, and the two of them executed the best placed face-plants onto the ground. Right above them, a pillar of fire spewed from the walls, singing Leo's hair.

"MOVE!' Leo bellowed.

Nico scrambled to his feet, helped Leo up, and the two of them ran. The fire blazed into a flurry of sparks before withering and dying on the sand. Leo and Nico continued running. After another minute or two, the two of them leaned onto the walls, gasping. "That was close," Nico gasped.

"No kidding," Leo agreed. "Let's be a bit more careful from now on,"

When they were ready to move, they made their way forward with a bit more caution. They moved at a half-jog, pausing to listen whenever they made a turn.

Suddenly, there was a terrifying scream. Nico's Stygian Iron sword was ready to strike, and Leo's hammer was out. The scream gurgled to a stop.

"Let me guess: someone got killed," Leo suggested.

Then, the sound of pounding feet pattered across towards them.

"Ready to fight?" Nico asked. "Always," Leo answered.

A haggard-looking gladiator burst into view. Before Nico or Leo could strike, the gladiator ran past them, shoving them aside.

"What?" Leo barely managed to finish his word before a black panther burst into view, roaring and baring thousands of razor-sharp teeth.

"So that is why that gladiator ran," Leo squeaked meekly.

"RUN, you idiot!" Nico screamed.

With that, Leo and Nico turned tail and ran.

The panther snorted, as if saying "Seriously?" before chasing after them. Fueled by adrenaline, the two of them overtook the fleeing gladiator ahead of them. The gladiator gawped at them and tripped over his shoelaces. Leo wanted to help, but as he turned his head, he saw the panther leaping onto the poor gladiator. Never mind. Leo continued to run.

Soon, they arrived at a crossing.

"Which way?" Nico asked, eyes frantically flitting back and forth.

"I don't know!" Leo panted. His body was drenched with sweat. The armor suddenly seemed too heavy and too hot. Far, far away, he could hear the audience screaming, in approval or disapproval, Leo didn't know.

Behind them, the panther roared.

The two of them charged towards the right, but leapt back as a section of the floor opened to reveal a bottomless pit.

"Left," Nico decided.

"Left it is," Leo agreed.

The two of them charged down the left passageway.

They ran. Time and space seemed to bend as they ran. When they met intersections, they picked a random passage and kept running, never stopping. Behind them, the panther roared, and gradually, the roars became fainter as the panther preyed on unsuspecting gladiators. Soon, the panther's roars faded entirely.

"Can we take a break?" Leo gasped. How long had they been running? Leo's legs felt like overcooked spaghetti.

"I need one too," Nico agreed, sagging down.

Leo wiped his forehead with a grimy hand. He wished he had some water. His throat was parched from yelling and screaming. Worst of all was his muscles. They ached and trembled from constant running. Leo tried to stand, but his legs wobbled around so much he just fell right back on his rump.

Dimly, Leo heard the audience tut in disapproval about his clumsy attempt to stand. Oh well, he had other things to worry about.

Leo barely rested for a minute before Nico called him up. "We need to get moving," Nico insisted. "We've been here for way too long. The panther could come back and find us,"

"Right," Leo groaned and stood up. Slowly, they made their way down the tunnels.

Soon, they saw the gladiators. There were only two of them, wearing dusty armor. They were stick-thin and malnourished, but their muscles were tough, and they had this meanness in their eyes that warned you not to touch them.

"Hi! Nice of you to join Uncle Leo's party," Leo said cockily, wagging his eyebrows.

One of the other gladiators snorted, and struck.

Thank goodness Leo had been training with Percy. Leo dodged the blow and gave the gladiator a good kick on the leg. The gladiator toppled, his armor weighing him down to the ground. With one good strike, Leo managed to knock that guy out cold.

Meanwhile, Nico was busy engaging the other gladiator. Nico had also been practicing well. The other gladiator was using the basic stabs and swipes, looking clumsy and stupid beside Nico, who was wielding his sword expertly as he made clever wrist-flicks and well-rehearsed spins. In moments, Nico had disarmed the gladiator and with a quick tap on the head, the other gladiator crumpled down, unconscious.

"Nice move," Leo complimented. "Thanks," Nico replied, patting the other gladiator's armor. After a while, Nico stood up in disgust. "This guy doesn't have the figurine. Does your gladiator have it?"

Leo yanked off his victim's breastplate and searched his pockets. Something fell out onto the sand.

"Oh yes, Uncle Leo's got it," Leo grinned, inspecting the little figurine. It displayed Minerva, standing upright, chin lifted, a helmet on her head, a shield against her, a spear in one hand, and Victoria in the other.

"Good," Nico nodded. "Keep it safe,"

"Got that right," Leo agreed, tucking the figurine safely in his pocket.

The two of them continued their way.

They met more tricks and traps, but no animals or gladiators. Leo got a nasty scratch from a flying spear, and Nico got a small bruise when he smacked his arm against the wall while dodging poisonous darts, but other than that, they were unharmed.

Soon, they selected a passageway... Which led to the center of the maze.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

"Finally," Nico breathed. It was about time they made it to the center.

The center of the maze was a clearing covered in white sand. There were trenches criss-crossing the arena and several pillars and structures to seek shelter in.

"What do we do now?" Leo asked. Even he looked stunned.

Just then, from another entrance, a pair of gladiators emerged.

"And now, we are onto the final two pairs of the gladiators! Let us welcome Alcyoneus and Mimas against Nico and Leo! It is time to fight to the death!" the announcer bellowed. The crowd cheered.

Alcyoneus was a massive giant wearing golden armor, his dreadlocks tipped with golden beads. Everything about this guy seemed to be gold. Mimas wore a ragged leather armor, his reddish dreadlocks greasy and matted, but an almost insane gleam raged in his eyes.

"BEGIN!" the announcer ordered.

Alcyoneus and Mimas barreled towards them like a nightmare. Leo and Nico dodged aside, somersaulting and scrambling to their feet, weapons raised and ready. Mimas turned to face Leo, while Alcyoneus turned to face Nico.

"Nice hair, dude. Seriously, how'd you get it to look so greasy? All the ladies must love that," Leo said, trying to lighten up the mood.

"Shut up," Mimas said.

"Aw," Leo said in mock sincerity. "Can't you just take the compliments and say your thanks? I'm complimenting you!"

Mimas snarled and sprang forward.

Leo rolled aside, giving Mimas a hit to the stomach, but Mimas deflected the blow. With dread settling in his stomach, Leo realized that his arm was now numb from the deflect, his hammer clunking onto the ground.

Mimas snickered. Leo managed to scoop up his hammer with his left hand, but he sucked at left-handed fighting. Quickly, Leo snuck a glance at Nico. Nico seemed to be holding out better, but Nico had a bloody scratch on his shoulder, which was bleeding profusely.

Mimas made an arc with his sword, nearly taking Leo's head off. Leo dodged and sprang to hide behind a rock, desperately willing his right arm to work. Mimas followed, his mouth twisted into a hideous leer as he gave Leo another swipe.

A blazing pain blossomed onto Leo's left arm, and once more, the hammer clunked onto the ground. With both arms gone, Leo might as well paint a KILL ME ALREADY sign on his forehead.

"Nice job, big guy!" Leo said frantically. "So... Why don't you just back off now and let me recover for a bit..."

Mimas grabbed Leo and threw him against the wall. Leo felt his back strike the stone wall and the breath rush out of his lungs. The audience booed.

For the next few moments, Leo found himself gagging, his lungs working frantically to get air. Leo tried to stand, but it was hopeless. The second he managed to get onto one knee, he toppled back down, more winded than ever.

"Die, idiot," Mimas sneered, pointing his sword at Leo's throat.

"Not yet," Leo moaned.

Leo summoned the last of his energy and somehow managed to kick the hammer, which smacked right into Mimas's foot. Mimas yelped, automatically dropping his sword to reach for his foot. Leo rolled aside, grabbing his hammer. Leo lunged into Mimas, knocking him onto the ground.

For a brief moment, the two of them scuffled onto the ground, tearing at each other's hair and eyes like wildcats. They smashed into a trench, where they writhed like snakes. Finally, Leo managed to pin Mimas down, squeezing him by the throat.

"Can you really kill me?" Mimas rasped.

Leo was hesitant as well. Could he kill Mimas?

Shaking his head, Leo raised his hammer. There would be a time for remorse later.

"Yeah, I think I can," Leo said.

Leo smashed his hammer down, and Mimas was gone.

Leo climbed out of the trench. Nico was gasping, standing up shakily. He had gained a few more cuts. At his feet, Alcyoneus's dead body lay in a heap.

"I present to you the victors! Leo and Nico!" the announcer yelled.

"How was it?" Leo asked as he limped over. He must have sprained his ankle as he was fighting. He was covered in dirt and bruises.

"Horrible," Nico said, but smiled shakily.

Slowly, Leo raised the statuette of Minerva above his head, savoring the taste of victory.

Yes, victory was sweet.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

"YOU WON! YOU GUYS FREAKING WON!" Hazel squealed the moment Leo and Nico stumbled out the maze.

Immediately, Calypso grabbed Leo and pulled him into a tight hug, ignoring the hard armor.

The rest of their friends mobbed the two worn-out boys, cheering (Percy), laughing (Thalia), congratulating (Annabeth), screaming (Hazel), and crying (Hazel and Calypso).

"I'm thoroughly impressed," Annabeth said, thoroughly impressed.

"AWESOME!"

"Dude, remember when you guys-"

"You're alive! You're actually alive!"

"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSS!"

Calypso ripped off Leo's helmet and started kissing him like there's no tomorrow, ignoring the fact that a crowd of other gladiators are staring at them.

Nico coughed loudly and the couple broke away, blushing to the roots of their hair.

But despite the fact that Nico was completely worn out, his muscles aching, his legs feeling like jelly, he was happy. The happiest he had been for basically his whole life.

If only time could freeze and stay forever at the moment.

If only.


	14. Treason

**XIII**

Much to everyone's surprise, the soldier had picked Thalia to fight this morning. So now everybody was sitting there, watching Thalia fight. Or in better words, play with her food.

The other gladiator, a big bulky guy with black hair and wheat-colored skin was already covered in cuts while Thalia was completely fine. In fact, she was dancing around the other gladiator, laughing and taunting him with her knives still sheathed and her bow and arrows not even notched.

"Thalia just get on with it!" Annabeth shouted.

"Sure thing, Annie!" the Huntress called back, waving at them. Then, with inhuman speed, she notched two arrows at the same time and let them fly. One pierced the other gladiator's leg, and the other buried itself in his neck.

"The winner is Thalia!" the announcer shouted to be heard above the cheering while Thalia smirked.

"Stop showing off, Sparky," Percy called. "That guy was an easy kill!"

Thalia shot an arrow at him which missed him by an inch. Obviously she had missed purposely. The Huntress never misses.

Later, after Thalia had cleaned herself up a bit, the group of friends went for lunch.

"Life's getting dull," Thalia sighed.

Nico nodded in agreement. "Even in the arena…"

"We should feel lucky, though," Annabeth pointed out. "If we think that life's getting boring, then that means we're all good enough fighters and have confidence that we could survive."

Calypso came over and gave them (Leo in particular) a small smile. "Yup. You have no idea how proud of you guys Hazel and I are."

Leo stretched. "Let's just wish it stays this way."

Percy couldn't help repeating, "Let's just wish…"

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

"It's getting boring," sighed Octavian. The meeting room was silent, tense as the centurions in charge of the gladiators and slaves stared at the polished, wooden table.

Centurion Gwen was there, so was Dakota. Originally, Centurion Ethan Nakamura should've been here was well, but since he was murdered, today, Reyna sat in his place. Frank stood behind Reyna and Jason was at his usual seat, juggling knives.

"I have an idea," Octavian said, leaning forward, his blue eyes glinting. "How about we do a mass murder?"

"I'm sorry, your majesty, but what do you mean?" asked Gwen timidly.

"I'm talking about the gladiators."

"What about them?" Reyna's voice was cold.

"I have an idea of entertainment, Secret General," Octavian said. "I want a big group of gladiators to go onto the arena and fight each other. Everyone is your enemy; you are your own team. The last one standing is the winner, obviously."

The room was still quiet save for a few shuffles of movements.

"And also, I want the best gladiators to go on. Interesting ones too, like the former princess Thalia and that other girl gladiator. Also that one who killed Luke, the legendary arena hero."

Reyna stiffened and Frank was gripping the back of Reyna's chair so hard it look like it's going to splinter soon.

"Gwendolyn, Dakota, do you think you could arrange that?" the Emperor asked quietly though there was a dangerous edge to his voice that didn't give the centurions much of a choice. So the two of them did the wise thing and nodded.

"Good, good. Those who are in favor, say Aye," Octavian ordered.

"Aye," said the assembly, or in this case, only Gwen and Dakota. Octavian's eyes narrowed.

"Those who are not in favor, say Nay."

The room was silent, then one voice spoke, "Nay."

Reyna stood up, eyes hard and cold. "The gladiators already have to live in fear; why should you add anymore in the order of killing their own friends?"

Octavian smiled coldly. "Are you feeling pity for the lowly slaves, Secret General Reyna? It's not our fault they're in the position they are currently in. The soldiers of their countries are just too weak!"

"That's not true!" Reyna exploded, surprisingly everyone. "Every soldier fought bravely and did their best. We just had the luck!"

"Luck? You call our skills luck? Is that how you really think, Reyna?" Octavian asked in a low, dangerous voice.

"Yes! No soldier who stands on a battlefield to the very end deserves to be called weak or cowardly! You have no right to criticize them!"

"I have no right, do I?" Octavian's eyes were narrowed and smoldering with annoyance.

"No right!" Reyna repeated. "And also-"

"Secret General Reyna!" Octavian snapped. "Are you saying this because you pity the gladiators and other countries or is it because you think they reminds you too much of yourself?"

Reyna was so furious she's struggling to speak.

"After all, you're so soft and weak that you can't see to a few sacrifices."

Suddenly, Reyna lunged, her sword unsheathed but Octavian snapped his fingers and Dakota was suddenly in front of her blocking her with his daggers.

"I'm so sorry, Reyna," he whispered, looking down, trying to cover the sadness in his eyes before he slammed the hilt of his dagger at her head.

The world went black.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

A young girl was perched on a tree, just outside the palace. Her black hair was covered by the large hood of her black cloak, her black eyes lost in the shadows. The top half of her pale face was covered by a black mask and she wore a black _chiton_ , a black bracelet winding up her right arm.

Yes, very black.

She was barefooted and stood on the thinnest branch of the tree as if she's standing on the ground. In her pale hands were a scroll and she was reading it, a small smirk on her face.

"Let's see…" she murmured.

"Tristan McLean, yes. Matthew and Bobby Chase, yes. Frederick Chase, yes. Sally Jackson, yup, so is Bianca di Angelo. Lee Jordan, Michael Yew, sadly yes, Luke Castellan, mm hmm. Alcyoneus and Mimas, yes. Ethan Nakamura, confirm."

She continued to stare at the scroll and slowly, another name, written in black unlike the other names which were written in red, appeared by itself.

"Ah," the girl grinned when she read the name, her canines unusually sharp. "Next up, Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano…"


	15. Execution

**XIV**

When Reyna woke, she found herself in a tiny concrete cell with a barred window in a corner. She lay in a pallet of moldy hay that stank of sweat and a rusty iron chain linked her wrist to a peg in the wall. All of her armor and medals were stripped away, leaving her shivering in a thin shift she wore under her clothes.

Reyna gritted her teeth to stop herself from yelling in pain as she sat up. Instinctively, her hands reached up to touch the swollen lump on her head, feeling sick as her fingers brushed the bleeding bruise.

With a huge amount of effort, Reyna stood up shakily, her knees knocking together comically as she reached for the bars, hoisting herself up to see what was outside. For a brief moment, she was dazzled by the sunlight, but once her vision cleared, Reyna stifled a gasp.

The Maze had been cleared, the dirty sand swept away and replaced by fresher ones. The bloodstains were cleaned, the walls and floor polished. Without the screaming audience and the desperate gladiators, the arena seemed startling huge, but Reyna could only stare and stare at the single chopping block in the middle of the arena.

Reyna's arms trembled as she saw a large man wearing a black cloak and carrying an axe walk to the chopping block, giving the axe a few experimental swings before setting it down and laughing like a madman.

Shakily, Reyna sagged down back onto the hay. She was going to be executed.

Suddenly, the doors of her prison burst open as four guards entered the room. They smiled cruelly, staring at their former general.

"Not so proud and haughty now, aren't you, Secret General?" a particularly nasty one sneered.

"Who knows? You do realize that General Frank and I are good friends, right? You also realize that I have a lot of friends. What if General Frank heard about you making fun of a Secret General? In less than a minute, you would be here, wetting your pants as you wait for your execution," Reyna said haughtily.

After that, the guard stopped jeering at her. They took off the chain, bound her wrists, and marched her out the cell.

The guards marched Reyna down several hallways and passages. Usually, Reyna would be calculating the distance or memorizing the path, but for the moment, Reyna did none of those. She was stumbling over her feet, stifling her cries of pain as her bare feet caught on sharp pebbles and when a guard quite purposely bumped her head with his shield.

Soon, Reyna found herself in the Prep Room. The only thing separating her from the arena was a thick wooden door and a portcullis.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

The next morning, the gladiators were once more herded out to the arena.

"I thought the Maze Running game was over!" Percy complained. "Seriously, I swear I saw them take the Maze down last night…"

"I don't know," Annabeth said, frowning. "Maybe there's another activity planned…?"

Nico mumbled in agreement, but some part of him felt nasty. Deep inside, he knew something particularly bad was going to happen, but he didn't know what that bad thing will be.

The guards herded them into their section. Most of the gladiators slumped against the walls and started chatting amongst themselves. Usually, Nico would be just like them, but somehow, Nico found himself at the front row, eyes fixed onto a chopping block in the middle of the arena as the citizens of Rome made their way in.

"Looks as if someone's going to get executed," Thalia noted wryly. She didn't look too happy seeing the chopping block.

"I hope it's not someone we know," Annabeth said worriedly. Nico knew she was thinking about General Frank, Piper, or Prince Jason.

"Probably not," Nico said nervously.

"Once more, welcome to the arena!" Octavian said. The crowd fell respectfully quiet, every face turned to the Emperor's Box. Beside him sat General Frank and Jason… But where was Reyna?

"Today, we have a very special execution to perform. Just yesterday, one of my most trusted advisors has tried to assassinate me. Yes, in broad daylight, one of my most trusted advisors tried to assassinate me!" Octavian added meaningfully. "By now, most of you are probably thinking about who is this trusted advisor. Well, I'd be honored to tell you that the Secret General, Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano has become a traitor to the Emperor and the Empire!"

Nico froze. Around him, Percy, Annabeth, Leo, Thalia, and the rest of them all wore the same expressions of frozen shock.

"W-what?" Leo stuttered.

"No," Nico whispered.

The wooden doors opened. The portcullis lifted. Reyna, accompanied by four burly guards, stepped out.

Reyna wore nothing but a thin cotton shift. Blood caked her hair and her arms and legs were bruised painfully, but nevertheless, her shoulders were squared and her chin was lifted high. She still walked in a proud, dignified way, refusing to cower or plead for mercy.

Briefly, Reyna's eyes met his. She smiled sadly as a guard forced her to her knees, her neck soon brushing the chopping block.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Nico's face was a mask of horror as the guard shoved her to her knees.

 _'I'm so sorry, Nico,'_ Reyna thought sadly. I'm so sorry.

"Get your neck down, traitor," the Executor said harshly.

Reyna refused to move her neck down. One of the guards snarled and swore, forcing her head down to the block.

And quite suddenly, Reyna remembered.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Five Years Ago…

The Ramirez-Arellano family lived in a simple farming village. The family consisted of the father, the mother, Reyna's older sister, Hylla, and herself.

There were rumors that the Ramirez-Arellano family was descended from long-lost royalty. Reyna didn't really believe in the rumor, because they were only slightly richer than the poor farmers around them, but her father took the rumor seriously. Instead of living with the villagers, Reyna's father refused to let common blood mix with the 'royal' blood. Therefore, they lived a mile away from the village in a slightly richer-looking house.

Reyna remembered playing with Hylla and occasionally sneaking outside to the village at night to play with the other village children. Reyna remembered hearing her father insisting to buy the latest designs to prove their royalty while her mother protested that they were dangerously low on money.

Then one day, the Romans came.

At first, Reyna heard screams from the village. When she ran to her parents, they told her that it was probably just a fire that could be put out easily.

After half an hour, the screaming stopped abruptly.

"Guess they put out the fire," Reyna's father said simply, unraveling some scrolls.

Suddenly, the sound of hooves clattered up the road. From a window, Reyna could see two carriages. One of them had a slave cart attached to its back.

"Who is it?" Reyna's mother asked, hurrying outside, followed by Hylla and Reyna's father.

Reyna was the last to get outside, only to scream in terror. Her father was dead on the ground, a spear through his chest. Hylla was pounding her fists uselessly against a massive Roman soldier as he speared Reyna's mother.

"You monsters! How could you kill our mom?" Hylla shrieked, flailing her fists uselessly as the Roman soldier tossed her into a slave cart.

"There's another one here!" another soldier bellowed, grabbing Reyna.

"Let me go!" Reyna screeched. She kicked the guard with her tiny feet, but the guard barely grunted.

"Wait," a voice called from the carriage without the cart. "She's too weak to be sold as a slave. She'll have to become a palace servant,"

The soldiers grunted in agreement.

"But sir, how will we take her to the palace? The other carriage is going to the slave fair." A guard protested.

"No worries," the same voice said. "I'm going to the palace. I'll take her with me,"

In less than a moment, Reyna found herself sitting in a cramped wheelbarrow attached to the carriage as they headed towards the palace, wishing that Hylla would be there.

For the next half hour, Reyna had refused to cry. She promised herself to stay strong and to survive whatever is up ahead.

Suddenly, there was a shout. Dozens of bandits sprang down from the trees, weapons raised as they attacked the carriage. The horses whinnied in fear as two guards yanked frantically on their harnesses, trying to keep them under control. Other guards were dueling with the bandits, trying to stay alive.

Somehow, Reyna took control.

"You two guards, take care of the horses! The rest of you, form a ring around the carriage. Everyone, get out! You have to fight if you want to live!" Reyna yelled. She grabbed a sharp stick and gave the nearest bandit a hard prod.

Surprisingly, everyone followed her orders. Even more surprisingly, the bandits were chased off.

"That was impressive," the voice from the carriage said. The door opened, and a tall, muscular man with dark skin and kind eyes stepped out. "That was incredibly impressive leadership skills you have just demonstrated."

"Thank you," Reyna said, stunned.

"You are brave. You are clever. You make quick decisions and good choices. You stayed strong. You have every quality of a high-ranking General." The man said.

"Thank you," Reyna said again.

"So…" the man began. "I am the current General, Charles Beckendorf. Please note that I meant every word I just said. Would you like to be the next General?"

"Yes!" Reyna said eagerly, but suddenly, her face fell. "There can't be any women Generals."

"True," General Beckendorf said slowly. "It is true that there can't be any women Generals, but there can be women Secret Generals. There can be a General, but the Secret General is the one who plans everything out. Would you like to be the Secret General?"

Reyna agreed.

From then on, she became the Secret General. She trained with General Beckendorf, and when Beckendorf passed away, she stood strong and became the person he wished for her to be.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Back to Reality…

Reyna then found her neck pressed onto the block. Her past flashed through her mind.

"I'm sorry, Nico. I'm sorry, Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, Piper, Hazel, Leo…" Reyna said. The executioner raised his axe high.

"…Frank, Dakota, Gwen…"

The axe fell, a deadly silver arc in the air.

"…General Beckendorf…"

And then, it was silent.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Nico screamed. The crowds roared. The gladiators shrieked with rage. Hazel and Calypso burst out in tears, sobbing while the others murmured repeatedly, "No, no, no, no…" as if that could bring Reyna back to life.

Then suddenly, the most impossible event in history occurred.

"The Romans killed our friend!" Nico yelled. His voice was somehow projected all over the arena, echoing through every corner. Every head swiveled towards him, but Nico wasn't talking to the Romans. He was talking to the slaves, the gladiators, the mistreated ones.

"The Romans are slaughtering us day by day. Why must we play by their rules? We are people! We have feelings and rights! We do not deserve to die for mere entertainment! We need to fight!" Nico roared.

The gladiators roared back.

As one, the gladiators stood. As one, the gladiators reached for the nearest weapon.

As one, the slave revolt began.


	16. Reaper

**XV**

The gladiators and slaves were about to surge forward and kill every single Roman in the arena when somebody suddenly screamed, "STOP!"

Stepping out of the shadows, a completely gorgeous girl emerged. Her silky brown hair was choppy and braided at the sides, her eyes forever changing colors. She was wearing armor on top and a simple skirt on the bottom, with a dagger strapped to her side and her helmet tucked under her arm.

"Stop!" she demanded again, with the force of a leader. Every head turned to look at her and every mouth dropped open at her beauty. Well, almost every mouth. Frank, Thalia, Percy, Annabeth, Nico, Leo, Calypso, and Hazel were looking both surprised and amused while Jason stared at her, completely mesmerized, his eyes slightly misty with love.

Piper walked to the center of the arena, standing a few meters from the headless body of Reyna. "I am Piper McLean," she said, her voice traveling through the whole arena, "the princess of Greece." Now her friends' mouths also dropped open.

The arena was silent.

"People of Greece," Piper continued. "And everyone else who are not Roman, listen to me. Though the Romans might have taken everything from us, not all of them are bad." Then, she turned to the Romans. "Will you join us, and earn your freedom and victory, or will you stay where you are and be crushed?"

"Nonsense!" sneered Octavian. "You are a bunch of slaves! What can you do against my armies? And everyone here is loyal to me. After all, I have made their lives luxurious."

The former princess of Greece glared at the Emperor. "Oh shut up, you weasel-faced bastard," she snarled. Ignoring Octavian's splutters, she addressed the Romans again. "Well?"

"You're achieving nothing!" the Emperor of Rome said shrilly. "Nobody would-"

"No," a voice cut him off. Jason stood up, his expression determined. "I was never with good terms with my Father, Octavian," he said. "But I doubt I'd be on better terms with the person who murdered him." And he walked down to stand next to Piper. They shared a small kiss, shocking the arena down to their bones and looked up at Frank expectantly.

"Right," the lumbering boy stuttered and left to stand next to Jason.

"HOW DARE YOU!" Octavian screamed in a high-pitched voice, sounding like a little girl throwing a tantrum. "TRAITORS! YOU GUYS ARE ALL TRAITORS! I SHOUL'VE KILLED YOU WHEN I HAD THE CHANCE, PRINCE JASON! I KNEW YOU'D COME BACK TO BITE ME IN THE BUTT!"

"Oh really?" asked the Prince. "Well, let's see if you can kill me now." And he lunged, his sword out and ready.

"Guards!" yelled Octavian and Roman soldiers surged forward. By the time, they had suppressed them, Octavian had disappeared.

"He must have gone back to the palace!" Jason shouted, and everyone began to file out the arena, making their way to the home of the royals.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

As the others left the arena, Nico stayed back, lingering until he was the only one in the arena. The Romans had either fled or was killed and bodies littered the floor. Slowly he made his way down to the center of the arena, where Reyna's body still lay.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, putting a hand on her back. "I will help you get revenge, Reyna. I promise I will."

Then, he began to leave. When he was at the exit, he turned back and said, "Thank you." And the arena was silent.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

When Annabeth and the others arrived at the palace walls, they were immediately met by archers perched on the top. Everyone dove down to hide from the arrows shot at them, though there were quite a few unfortunate souls that were taken by the arrows.

When, the archers seem to have run out of arrows, Annabeth leapt out from her hiding place and charged. However, it seems like there's one archer who still has an arrow and he shot it at the running girl, who was one of the first ones in the charging crowd.

Annabeth didn't notice it, but somebody else did.

"Annabeth!" Thalia shouted, and pushed her out of the way.

Gasping, the blonde girl stood back up, beginning to thank the other girl when she froze, horrified.

The Huntress was on the ground, gasping, an arrow sticking out of her chest.

"Thalia!" the others jogged up to them, their eyes wide with shock. Hazel fell to her knees, pulled out the arrow, causing Thalia to grunt in pain, and began trying to stop the bleeding.

"Oh my gods," Calypso looked around frantically.

Then, Jason arrived, with Piper and Frank just behind him. "NO!" he shouted when he saw his older sister dying on the ground.

"Jason, Anna…beth, Percy, Nico, every…one," Thalia croaked, blood trickling out the corner of her mouth. Time seem to stop, the world around the group of friends muted and sluggish. "I'm… so s-sorry…"

Then, the light faded from her electric blue eyes.

"NO!" Everyone screamed.

"Oh my gods, oh my gods, oh my gods…" gasped Calypso grabbing Leo's arm. Hazel buried her face into the crook of Frank's neck trying to calm herself down while Annabeth sobbed over her best friend's dead body with Percy next to her, biting his lower lip. Tears were streaming down Jason's face though he swallowed hard, wiped away his tears and said, "We should keep-"

Suddenly, a tree grew out of Thalia's wound, growing bigger and taller until her body was completely submerged. The others stumbled back in shock, staring at the large pine tree.

"Thalia's pine…" Annabeth whispered.

And then, they saw _her_.

A faded, unfocused image of a girl in a large black cloak and black chiton appeared, gliding towards the pine tree. She put a hand gently on the tree's bark and when she pulled away, a streak of electric blue trailed from her fingers, connected to the bark of the tree. Then, the lines of blue detached themselves and sank into her fingertips. The girl shimmered and faded away.

"Who the hell was that?" Leo asked, voicing the question that was on everybody's mind a few minutes after the girl disappeared.

"I'm guessing she came to reap Thalia's soul," Nico answered.

Percy frowned. "Wait, Thanatos is a girl?"

"Who?" Jason asked.

"No!" Nico was shocked. "I mean like, she might be a daughter of Thanatos or maybe even Hades. We've all heard stories of the gods coming down and mating with mortals like us, making demigods."

"Wait, who?" Jason asked again.

"They meant Letus and Pluto," Piper told him.

"Oh," was all Jason could say.

"She better get to Elysium!" Percy shouted to the sky. Everybody quieted, listening intensely. A gust of wind ruffled through the trees, causing pine needles to shower down and the group of friends could almost imagine a girl's voice whispering, "I know, I know…"

"Anyways," Annabeth interrupted the silence, "we have to keep going. We have to kill Octavian."

The others nodded in agreement and they hurried towards the palace gates, which were already knocked down by the revolting slaves before them.

What they didn't notice was that Nico had disappeared.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Octavian was laughing with delight. "Those stupid slaves! They went to attack the palace, not realizing that I'm actually still in the arena!"

Gwen and Dakota nodded, wringing their hands nervously.

"Stupid, are we?" a voice came from the shadows, shocking everyone out of their skins. "If we're so stupid, why am I here?"

A boy emerged from the shadows, his pale skin almost glowing while his black hair and dark eyes seem to blend in the dark room.

"You had Reyna executed, didn't you?" Nico asked coldly.

Octavian narrowed his eyes. "Yes, so?"

Nico raised his sword, sharp and wicked-looking. "So I will kill you for her."

He charged, his sword meeting Octavian's knife. Then, Octavian turned tail and ran.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

"He's not here!" Leo shouted from the Emperor's sleeping chambers.

"Nor here," Piper and Jason appeared.

"Has anyone seen Nico?" Percy asked.

Annabeth furrowed her brows, frowning as she thought. Then, sudden realization hit her. "Oh my gods!" she gasped. "What if Octavian never left the arena?"

The others gasped as well.

"We have to go back!" Jason shouted.

"And I bet Nico realized this before we did, which is why he's disappeared," Frank said.

"Why didn't he tell us, though?" Leo grumbled.

All of them rushed out the palace and began running towards the arena.

But too late, the portcullis had lowered.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Nico was honestly getting bored of this cat-and-mouse chase, so he formed a plan. He will chase Octavian into the arena and lower the portcullis so both of them are trapped in there and then, he could enjoy killing the Emperor.

So that's what he did. And his plan finished not a moment too late. The moment the portcullis was lowered, his friends appeared, looking horrified when they saw Octavian and Nico in the arena.

Octavian was obviously scared, though he seems to be trying to hide it (failing miserably, by the way).

Ignoring his friends, Nico pointed his sword at Octavian. "Emperor Octavian," he said coldly, "I challenge you."

The Emperor took a deep breath. "I accept your challenge."

 _'Not that you had a choice,'_ Nico thought.

Immediately, the two of them began battling, slashing at each other. Octavian was actually a pretty good fighter, Nico realized, slightly surprised.

Percy was trying to lift up the portcullis but it was so heavy he's barely moving it an inch. Frank and Jason joined in and help him.

 _'I have to hurry,'_ thought Nico, _'before they come in and interfere.'_

So he quickly charged, feigned left but attacked on the right, successfully knocking one of Octavian's knives away. Disarming him completely was so easy Nico wanted to cry.

The portcullis lifted a little and spinning around, Nico stabbed Octavian right through the stomach. The portcullis fell with a loud thud as Percy, Jason, and Frank stared at him in shock.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

For a moment, there was silence. And then, everybody started cheering. Percy high-fived with just about everybody and Hazel was hugging people. Leo was laughing along with Calypso and Annabeth was smiling proudly at the younger boy.

Jason was having a strong urge of jumping up and down, squealing like a little girl, cheering, "Oh yeah, he's dead. Now I'm king. He's dead…"

Luckily, he restrained himself and settled for grinning instead.

But then, suddenly, Hazel screamed and everyone turned to see her pointing at Nico who had slumped to the ground, a knife in his stomach and Octavian dead next to him with a maniacal grin on his face.

"The portcullis!" Annabeth shouted.

Everyone began trying to lift it. When it finally lifted, they all started running towards the boy at the center of the arena, not two meters away from Reyna's dead body.

As they ran, they suddenly saw the faded image of a girl, the same girl who had appeared when Thalia died, appear above Nico. She bent down and kissed him gently on the forehead. When she drew away, a trail of black connected her lips and Nico's forehead. Then, the line detached themselves and sank into her mouth, making her look like she's swallowing Nico's soul.

Then, she disappeared.

Percy was the first to reach Nico and soon, everyone had gathered around him.

But they were too late. The young boy's breaths had already stilled.


	17. End

**XVI**

Nico was dead. A sob burst free from Annabeth's lips. She covered her mouth with her hand and sobbed and sobbed and sobbed.

In front of her, Nico's wound was still gushing out jelly-like blood. Piper tore off a strip of her skirt, wadded it up, and tried to stop the blood flow, but it was already too late. Nico was dead.

"What do we do now?" Hazel asked after what seemed to be forever in a small, scared voice, huddling close to Frank.

"I don't know," Annabeth replied hoarsely. It was the first time in her life she had ever felt so useless.

Dimly, Annabeth could hear chaos around them as the citizens ran up and down the streets, frantic, and not knowing what to do. The guards stood there, stunned, as they glanced at Jason and Octavian's corpse, unsure to either avenge their dead Emperor or to declare Jason as their new king. The other gladiators stood in an uncertain ring around them, weapons in their hands, not knowing to attack or to wait.

Suddenly, a large, beefy Roman guard roared. He picked up a sword and yelled, "For Emperor Octavian!" before rushing forward.

The gladiators immediately ran forward to intercept the guard, but the guard swatted them aside like flies, heading towards Jason.

"NO!" Annabeth shrieked, but Percy was faster. He sprang forward with the agility of a jungle cat and parried the blow. With one quick hit with the pommel of his sword, the guard crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

The guard's outburst had stirred the other guards into action. They picked up their swords, formed ranks, and headed towards the gladiators, faces hard and emotionless.

"Shall we fight?" Percy asked in a low voice.

Annabeth glanced at the arena. The portcullises were lowered. More guards poured into the arena. There was nowhere to run.

"We fight," Annabeth confirmed and grasped her dagger. Frank and Jason drew their swords. Leo pulled out a massive War hammer. Calypso and Piper drew knives, and even Hazel managed to find a cavalry sword.

Annabeth glanced around them. Quietly, the citizens had slunk back into the arena, and were looking down, faces baffled. Annabeth knew that the winning side would rule and decide the fate of the losing side. Annabeth knew that it was a battle they could not lose, but there were so many Roman soldiers! It was impossible.

"Wait," Hazel said suddenly.

"What is it?" Piper asked, eyes still on the Roman army.

Hazel took a deep breath. "A few months ago, I discovered a labyrinth of secret tunnels under the arena and all over Rome. I don't know where they lead to, but if we can force open another portcullis, I can show you the nearest opening, and we can all escape."

There was a moment of silence as the information sank in.

"What are we waiting for?" Leo cried. "Let's get out of here now!"

"No," Jason said, his voice firm. "These are my people. Octavian killed my father and took the throne. These are my people. I need to lead them."

Annabeth frowned. The situation was getting slightly more difficult now. Jason wanted to stay. Leo wanted to leave. Again, everything seemed too overwhelmed, but Annabeth racked her brain and thought.

"Wait," Annabeth said. Everyone turned to her, desperate for some sort of plan. "How about this: Jason calls for order and convinces the citizens to follow him. Once he has become the new Emperor, those of us who want to leave Rome can use the Secret Tunnels to get out, so that Octavian's men won't get them. After that, I suppose everything should go back to normal," Annabeth finished lamely.

Jason tapped his chin.

"That's actually a pretty good plan," he said at last.

"Good," Percy said, nodding. "You'd better get started, then. The Roman army is coming really close,"

"Really close" was an understatement. The Romans were barely a few meters away from them.

"Get me up!" Jason ordered.

Percy and Leo glanced at each other. The two of them crouched down, with their shields on their shoulders. Jason climbed onto the shields. With a powerful thrust, Percy and Leo leapt up, the shields spinning in the air, propelling Jason high up the arena.

Springing forward, Jason grasped onto a ledge and swung himself onto the Emperor's Box… And there he stood, glancing at the faces of his people.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

"People of Rome!" Jason bellowed. His voice sounded oddly magnified.

The Roman army stopped marching and glanced up to see him. Every face was turned towards him, waiting for what he had to say.

Jason's hands turned clammy, and he started to sweat. Immediately, the 'I Hate Public Speaking' song blared into his mind. Jason forced the song away from his mind and cleared his throat.

"People of Rome, I know that Emperor Octavian has called me a traitor and some rather unflattering things, but before we focus on me, we must focus on my father. I am sure you all remember him," Jason said. The crowd was deathly silent. Piper flashed a thumbs-up at him, and Jason felt warmer. Straightening himself up, Jason continued.

"My father was a good Emperor. He made the Empire strong. He made all of us rich and happy. But one day, he died. Some say that some foreign assassin killed him. Others claim that he died of old age. However, here is the truth: Octavian has killed him to become the Emperor!"

The crowds gasped in shock. Jason barged ahead mercilessly.

"And so Octavian became the Emperor. Did some of you notice how you grew poorer? Did you notice that only the nobles hold all the wealth and power now?"

To his surprise and relief, many people nodded in agreement.

"Octavian stole your power, but that is not the worst thing he has done. For months now, you have watched valiant men and women fight for their lives. Octavian claims that they are professional gladiators. Look at them! Think again. Do they look like professionals? I tell you the truth: they are not professional freemen who pay to fight. They are slaves from other countries. Imagine yourself fighting for your life in the arena. How would you feel like?"

The crowds were deathly silent.

"Please give me a chance," Jason said, lowering his voice respectfully. "Please let me become your Emperor. I cannot guarantee that I will run this Empire successfully, but I swear that I will try my best to return what Octavian has stolen from you."

For a brief moment, the crowds were silent.

"Emperor Jason!" someone… Gwen and Dakota shrieked.

"Emperor Jason!" the crowds roared. They cheered and screamed his name in approval.

Jason's knees went weak. He did it.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Jason soon rejoined them at the center of the arena.

"Good job," Percy congratulated Jason.

"Thank you," the new emperor smiled weakly.

Piper was in tears as she hugged Jason fiercely before placing a kiss on his lips. Hazel started fanning her face, and turned bright red when Frank kissed her too. Calypso and Leo were kissing as well, so Percy leaned forward and gave Annabeth a quick peck on the lips too.

"So… I'm the new Emperor now," Jason said. "So… Do any of you want to leave?"

"I'll stay with you," Piper said immediately.

"I guess I'd better stay," Frank said awkwardly.

"I'm staying with Frank," Hazel confirmed.

"How about you guys?" Jason asked the rest of them.

"I'd like to go back to Greece," Leo said, while Calypso nodded.

"How about you, Percy, Annabeth?" Jason asked.

"Well…" Percy scratched his head thoughtfully. "I've had enough fighting for a lifetime. I'd like to get back to the countryside. Maybe I'll be a fisherman again."

"I'll be going with Percy," Annabeth agreed. "I've definitely had enough fighting for my life too,"

And so it was settled. Hazel showed them the tunnels and after hugs, tears, and a thousand good-byes, Percy, Annabeth, Leo, and Calypso found themselves walking down musty earthen tunnels until they reached the exit. When they burst into the sunlight, they found themselves at the edge of a small town.

The town was perfect. It was beside the sea, but the buildings were inland enough so that the cold ocean drafts wouldn't be a bother. The town was evidently conquered by the Romans, but as far as Percy could see, there were only two Roman guards in charge. It would be perfect for settling down and enjoying the rest of their lives in.

Beside him, Leo placed his fists on his hips and glanced at the town, nodding in approval. "We could build Leo and Calypso's Mechanical Monsters Shop right here," Leo said. The two of them walked aside to discuss their futures.

"How does this town look?" Percy asked.

"This is perfect," Annabeth said.

Percy glanced at the town again and took Annabeth's hand in his. Together, they walked down the ridge they stood on and entered the door to their new lives.


	18. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Jason had never felt so happy in his life. There was one time that came close because of Octavian's downfall, and that was quickly destroyed when Nico had died.

But it had been 4 months since he's been crowned Emperor and he had finally mustered up enough courage to propose to Piper. Obviously, she said yes, and today was the big wedding.

Jason was standing on a stage in the forum, dressed in his fancy emperor clothes, waiting as Piper appeared.

She was stunningly beautiful. Many men saw her and their eyes went unfocused, dreamy with love while the women were seething with jealousy.

Her brown hair was no longer choppy, but neatly trimmed and flowed out behind her as she walked, just like her blue silk and satin dress. She had no makeup on and the sunlight made her eyes change colors even more quickly than usual. There was a faint blush on her cheeks as she walked onto the stage and stood next to Jason.

The priests said a bunch of stuff, made a prayer to Venus, and then they kissed, right in front of the crowd. Though many people were jealous, they all couldn't help but cheer as their generous Emperor kissed his true love.

Then, suddenly, Hazel was on the stage, with Frank trailing awkwardly behind her. She launched herself at the newlywed and wrapped them in a bone-crushing hug. Then, Percy, Annabeth, Leo, and Calypso all came up as well, hugging them and congratulating them. The crowd seemed slightly surprised to see a bunch of common people being so close to the Emperor, but they kept on cheering anyway.

"Congratulations…" Hazel and Calypso sang.

"Happy Birthday to you…" Percy also sang, only to frown and mutter, "That's not the right song, is it?"

Jason was grinning at his friends. "Thanks, guys. Now do you mind giving us some breathing space? It's getting awfully tight and suffocating here."

His friends loosened the circle. Then, they all raced back to the palace, leaving many confused crowds behind. A few older people smiled slightly at their Emperor's immatureness. Children were bobbing with excitement, many of them telling their mothers, "When I grow up, I will be able to run as fast as that, too!" And the mothers would smile fondly and say, "Of course, sweetheart."

It was the best day ever.

 **το** **τραγούδι** **του** **τέσσερις** **φωνές**

Two months later, Frank and Hazel married as well, though they didn't have a big wedding like Jason.

Leo and Calypso had finished building their new mechanic's shop and married soon after it was finished.

Percy and Annabeth had settled down, marrying almost right after they moved in. Percy went back to being a fisherman.

A few more months passed, and it's now August again.

August was a nice month; the weather was sunny and comfortable, the fruits are ripe, the animals awake…

But it's not a happy month for Jason, Piper, Frank, Hazel, Percy, Annabeth, Leo, and Calypso. Because this was the month when Thalia, Reyna, and Nico had died.

August 8, the group of friends trudged towards the cemetery. Reyna, Thalia, and Nico's graves were all next to each other. One by one, they laid flowers on the graves, and murmured prayers to the dead. As they were about to leave, however, they saw _her_ again.

Her flickering, unfocused form appeared behind the three tombstones just as the group of friends were about to turn to leave. The sight of her froze them to place.

 _'Is someone going to die?'_ Annabeth thought worriedly.

"Who are you?" Leo asked immediately when he saw her.

The girl waved a hand dismissively. "That is not important," she said, her voice sounding like a echo from far away. Then, she lowered her hood and for the first time, they saw her face. She was pretty, with a small, petite look on her, big, dark eyes and full lips. Her skin was porcelain pale but she still looked healthy.

"I'm just here to tell you," the girl continued, "don't worry. Reyna, Thalia, and Nico are waiting for you guys in Elysium. And they told me to tell you this: Live your life to the fullest, for both them, and your sake."

Her form flickered and for a second, she became almost completely invisible. Her voice also sounded even more faraway when she said, "And we'll meet again, I promise, though let's all wish that it's not anytime soon!" Then, she disappeared.

For a moment, there was complete silence, save for the rustle of leaves as a small breeze swept by.

Then, they smiled contently and left the cemetery, promising that they will live their lives to the fullest, just as their dead friends had told them to. Though they still didn't know who the girl was, they didn't care.

Today was a day of celebration. Because today was the day that their friends had been completely set free, and is now in a better place. And they all know that one day, they will be together again.

But before that, they'll have to have a good life.

"Let's build a mechanical horse for Hazel!" Calypso suggested excitedly in the mechanics shop. Leo grinned in agreement.

"Let's get the others chocolate!" Hazel said cheerfully to Frank, who happily agreed.

"Should we give Leo and Percy some more money?" Jason thought aloud.

"I'm hungry," Percy sighed. "I'm going to go catch dinner."

All of them left their own way, though they know that no matter how far apart they are, their hearts will be forever tied. Because this was the song of four voices. And now, it's eleven.


End file.
